The Invention of Lying (at Work): The Development and Validation of a Situational Judgment

• Main Author: Conway, Jeffrey S.
• Format: Others
• Published: Scholar Commons 2014
• Subjects: Honesty; Lying; Personality; Scale Development; Situational Judgment Test; Psychology
• Online Access: https://scholarcommons.usf.edu/etd/5204; https://scholarcommons.usf.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=6400&context=etd

The focus of the current dissertation was on the construction and validation of a situational judgment test (SJT) assessing lying/dishonesty in the workplace. The scale was designed to have two dimensions corresponding to two needs based on Socioanalytic Theory: (1) the need to get along and (2) the need to get ahead. Three studies were undertaken in order to create items, pilot test items, and assess both the construct and criterion-related validity of the scale. The result of Study 1 was a pilot-tested scale with six SJT items corresponding to each of the two SJT dimension (12 items total). The dimensions of the new SJT are referred to in the paper as LAl (lying to get along) and LAh (lying to get ahead). Study 2 examined convergent and discriminant validity as well as the nomological network of other individual difference variables expected to be related to LAl and/or LAh. The results of Study 2 largely supported the construct validity of the overall scale but many of the personality constructs based on the Five Factor Model (FFM) were not related to LAl or LAh. In Study 3, LAl and LAh were unrelated to several aspects of supervisor rated performance as well turnover intentions and objective career outcomes (e.g., promotions). The primary contribution of the dissertation was the creation of a construct valid SJT measuring lying in organizations whose dimensions could be assessed reliably using coefficient alpha as opposed to test-retest reliability. Future research directions and limitations of the study are discussed in the final section of the dissertation.