Instruments for personnel selection in the 21st century: research and practice

Instruments for Personnel Selection in the 21st Century: Research and Practice. This article presents an evidence-based overview of innovative selection techniques that were developed in the last years to provide an answer to key questions concerning the contemporary practice of selection. In addition, we aim to point out gaps in the current knowledge about these novel techniques to guide future research. The article shows that innovative selection instruments such as conditional reasoning tests, integrity tests, and implicit association tests might offer opportunities to measure value-based competencies, and maladaptive traits. Furthermore, contextualized personality questionnaires, business-related intelligence tests, situational judgment tests, and so-called serious games enable organizations to improve their image, which creates branding opportunities to promote the company as an attractive employer. Finally, we conclude by stating that practitioners and researchers face numerous selection challenges. Examples are the selection of a diverse as well as competent workforce and the reliable and valid implementation of unproctored Internet testing

Constructed response formats and their effects on minority-majority differences and validity

The inflow of immigrants challenges organizations to consider alternative selection procedures that reduce potential minority (immigrants)-majority (natives) differences, while maintaining valid predictions of performance. To deal with this challenge, this paper proposes response format as a practically and theoretically relevant factor for situational judgment tests (SJTs). We examine a range of response format categories (from traditional multiple-choice formats to more innovative constructed response formats) and conceptually link these response formats to mechanisms underlying minority-majority differences. Two field experiments are conducted with SJTs. Study 1 (274 job seekers) contrasts minority-majority differences in scores on a multiple-choice versus a written constructed response format. Written constructed responses produce much smaller minority-majority differences (d = .28 vs. d = .92). In Study 2 (269 incumbents), scores on a written constructed versus an audiovisual constructed format are compared. The audiovisual format further reduces minority-majority differences (d = .09 vs. d = .41), with validities remaining the same. Results are suggestive of cognitive load as a contributor to the reduction in minority-majority differences, as are rater effects: Scores of raters evaluating transcribed audiovisual responses, which anonymized test takers, produce larger differences. In sum, altering response modality via more realistic response formats (i.e., the audiovisual constructed format) leads to significant reductions in minority-majority differences without impairing criterion-related validity. Implications for selection theory and practice are discussed

The image of psychology programs: The value of the instrumental-symbolic framework

As competition for funding and students intensifies, it becomes increasingly important for psychology programs to have an image that is attractive and makes them stand out from other programs. We use the instrumental-symbolic framework from the marketing domain to determine the image of different master’s programs in psychology and examine how these image dimensions relate to student attraction and competitor differentiation. The samples consist of both potential students (N = 114) and current students (N = 68) of three psychology programs at a Belgian university: industrial and organizational psychology, clinical psychology, and experimental psychology. The results demonstrate that both instrumental attributes (e.g., interpersonal activities) and symbolic trait inferences (e.g., sincerity) are key components of the image of psychology programs and predict attractiveness as well as differentiation. In addition, symbolic image dimensions seem more important for current students of psychology programs than for potential students