The Use of Personality Testing in Personnel Selection

• Main Author: Kumar, Riya
• Format: Others
• Published: Scholarship @ Claremont 2019
• Subjects: Personality Testing; job performance; Big Five model; Dance; Industrial and Organizational Psychology; Organization Development
• Online Access: https://scholarship.claremont.edu/cmc_theses/2038; https://scholarship.claremont.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3119&context=cmc_theses

Research has shown that more than 45% of American companies are opting to integrate personality tests in their recruitment processes. Given this surge in personality testing, this thesis examines whether personality testing is a valid predictor of job-fit and performance in the context of personnel selection. A large proportion of this paper is focused upon the Big-Five factor model, its limitations, and derivative tests of the model. The impact of technology upon personality testing is also discussed as an emerging field. By tracing and examining the history of personality testing to current day, I have found that personality tests are best administered when they provide incremental validity over other tools and are matched to specific job-criteria.