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Tests of cognitive ability play a major role in the selection of students. Still, data regarding the fairness of standardized tests in Germany is scarce. We use three samples ( N = 2,616; 58% women) from German universities to investigate the sex-specific differential prediction of college performance based on intelligence tests. The predictive bias we find is small and in line with US- American research. The direction of the effect depends on the cognitive ability domain investigated: Numeric test scores are prone to disadvantage women whereas verbal test scores are more likely to discriminate against men. Including high school grade point average in the prediction model can help to offset differential prediction that underestimates women's academic achievement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent meta-analyses (e.g. ) found openness to experience, a factor in the five-factor model of personality, to be uncorrelated with job performance. We argue that, among others, insignificant validity is due to the broad and heterogeneous nature of the construct. In line with our hypotheses, we found internal structure of openness to be multidimensional. Further analyses on subdimensional and facet level revealed large differences in criterion- and construct-related validity. It could be demonstrated that a subdimension labeled epistemic curiosity and, especially, the facet openness to ideas, which includes aspects like curiosity, flexibility, willingness to learn, and creativity, are highly relevant for work-related criteria and so far understudied in organizational research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous research has demonstrated a considerable correlation between job satisfaction and life satisfaction, in addition, various researchers have hypothesized that job importance (work involvement) should be a moderator of this relationship. However, most empirical tests did not confirm this assumption. We argue that job importance cannot turn out to be a moderator because the subjective importance of work is already part of job-satisfaction judgments, a notion that has been advanced by Locke (1969) as implicit importance weighting. However, a suppressor effect can be predicted because job importance should be correlated with job satisfaction, but not life satisfaction. In a study of recently hired incumbents (N = 811) in a large German electronics company, we distinguished between job involvement and work involvement. We considered the latter, but not the former, being a measure of job importance. Work involvement, but not job involvement, turned out to be a suppressor of the relation between job satisfaction and life satisfaction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A type of selection measure is presented which combines the psychometric characteristics of an intelligence test with the surface and content validity characteristics of a work sample for clerical occupations. Consequently, this measure - AZUBI-BK - is more positively evaluated by participants than a conventional measure of general mental ability (N = 1375). Preferences for the work sample-intelligence test hybrid applied for potential applicants from different school types, for job-experienced as well as for inexperienced subjects and for members of the ethnic majority as well as for ethnic minorities. AZUBI-BK showed high correlations with total scores (uncorrected r = .77 and .73) and corresponding factors of two intelligence tests, respectively. Criterion-related validity was equal to the reference measure in predicting theoretical examinations (uncorrected r = .61) and higher in predicting supervisory ratings (uncorrected r = .43). In the latter case, the new instrument shows incremental validity over an intelligence test but not vice versa; in a regression equation, AZUBI-BK can fully account for the variance in supervisory assessment. Adverse impact of AZUBI-BK for ethnic minorities is small which, however, was also true for a conventional intelligence test. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article describes the development and initial construct validation of a comprehensive self-report measure of workplace counterproductivity. The instrument contains subscales for different targets of counterproductivity (organizational and interpersonal deviance, Robinson and Bennett 1995) as well as for different forms of manifestation (absenteeism, substance use, aggression, and theft, respectively) An empirical study (N = 174), conducted in one manufacturing and one retail organization, confirmed the intended internal structure by means of confirmatory factor analysis. Counterproductivity may best be described as a higher-order behavioural construct loading on subdimensions carrying unique variance. In addition, an examination of outside variables showed that the best predictor of counterproductivity was self-control, followed by integrity, whereas cognitive ability was largely unrelated to the construct. The opposite pattern of correlations occurred for productive performance behaviours, indicating that counterproductivity is a unique construct within the performance domain. Differences and similarities between the present measure and a recent independent development by Bennett and Robinson (2000) are discussed, along with conclusions for future research on the topic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although assessment centres exhibit good content- and satisfactory criterion-related validity results, poor outcome is derived from construct-oriented validity studies. Twenty years of research on this topic have not changed the basic results. Important for the relationship between different assessments is not whether they grasp the same managerial dimension but whether they were obtained through the same exercise. The discussion presented in this article emphasizes among other reasons the conceptual specialties of assessment centre rating dimensions. All too hastily they are given the same status as traditional personality traits. Two studies are extensively described to clarify this argument. The first study utilizes a structural equation approach to demonstrate that commonly utilized AC dimensions differ in the realized degree of trait-like consistency. The second study investigates the linkage between AC outcomes and traditional trait constructs utilizing a meta-analytical approach. The highest correlations result for intelligence scores, social competence, achievement motivation, selfconfidence, and dominance measures. In the conclusion, the conceptual differences between trait (= sign-) and simulation (= sample-) oriented assessment approaches are highlighted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous research has suggested that the quality of judgmental validation criteria may improve depending on the increase of opportunity for the rater to observe ratees' job performances. This study investigated whether the validity of an assessment centre increases with opportunity to observe. Subjects were engineers and applied scientists from the Research and Development (R&D) units of seven German high-technology companies. A total of 6 personality scales, 10 cognitive ability tests and 9 work samples was administered to 155 subjects. Performance appraisals were collected from their supervisors. Assessors were trained organizational psychologists who were not members of the participating organizations. A total score ('assessment centre score') was computed by averaging the 25 predictors after standardization of each predictor. The (uncorrected) validity of this assessment centre was r = 0.37. In addition, opportunity to observe (i.e. amount of time the performance rater was the ratee's supervisor) emerged as a moderator: for example validities were r = 0.09 (opportunity to observe ≤ 2 years) and r = 0.50 (opportunity to observe > 2 years). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Various stimulus components (video, orally-presented questions) and response components (multiple-choice, written, orally-given replies) of situational judgement tests of occupational social competency were investigated as to their impact upon the validity for a behavior-oriented role playing criterion while keeping test content constant. The stimulus component video alone had no impact upon validity. The response components contributed to validity. Validity increased with improved fidelity of response components. Concerning stimulus-response-combinations, the validity of two video tests (r = 0.17 and r = 0.36) was not higher than the validity of similar oral questioning (r = 0.13 and r = 0.37) but was significantly lower than a situational interview (r = 0.59). Response fidelity proved to be a bottleneck regarding validity of video tests. As a result, it is recommended that, in order to maximize validity of video and multimedia efforts, the developers of video- and multimedia tests focus special attention on response fidelity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]