Validity Dynamism of Personality Traits in the Selection
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
VALIDITY DYNAMISM OF PERSONALITY TRAITS IN THE SELECTION CONTEXT A Dissertation Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of Cornell University in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy by Lian Shao August 2011 © 2011 Lian Shao VALIDITY DYNAMISM OF PERSONALITY TRAITS IN THE SELECTION CONTEXT Lian Shao Cornell University Based on the theoretical suggestion and empirical evidence of the idea of performance dynamism (i.e., that an individual‘s job performance changes with the passage of time), this paper argues that the criterion-related validity of selection devices (i.e., the correlation between any selection device‘s score and an individual‘s job performance rating) should not be treated as a constant but rather as a changing figure. Using personality tests on the Big Five traits (i.e., Openness, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness, and Neuroticism) as example, this paper tries to explore how the magnitudes of personality traits as performance predictors might change over time based on the literature on the changes in job demands on motivation, stress- coping, socialization, and learning behavior—the aspects of a job most closely associated with personality traits—along with the studies on age-related changes in work motivation and coping strategies. Through meta-analytically examining the extent to which temporal variables operationalized in age or organizational tenure explain the significant variation in personality trait-job performance correlations across primary studies, this paper looks for evidence of criterion-related validity dynamism of the Big Five traits as one selection test assessed in the previous research. Although some hypotheses related to validity dynamism were not supported, this meta-analysis did indeed show that age explains some of the variability in findings for the Extraversion- and Agreeableness-job performance correlations. Moreover, job complexity showed to be one moderating effect on the relationship between personality trait and job performance. Overall, this meta-analysis presented us with some preliminary evidence of the dynamic nature of the criterion-related validity of personality traits, demonstrating, at least in some instances, the flawed assumption of a static validity coefficient prevalent in selection research. This idea of validity dynamism integrated with the recent development in personality measurement and other personality trait-related models will push selection research as well as personality trait-job performance correlation research, more specifically, to a new era. BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH Lian Shao was born on October 20, 1973 in Shanghai, China. She is the only child of Ms. Lingzhi Chen and Mr. Hongsen Shao. Lian spent her time in Shanghai until, on March 28, 1998, she moved to Montreal, Canada to pursue her higher education. In Montreal, she completed her Bachelor study in Human Resources Management in 2000 and obtained her Master of Science in Administration degree in 2002, both from the John Molson School of Business, Concordia University. In September 2005, Lian started her Ph.D. study in Human Resources Management, under the supervision of Dr. Michael Sturman, at the School of Hotel Administration, Cornell University. Lian married her high school classmate, Kevin Chen, on February 15, 2002 in Charleston, South Carolina. Lian and Kevin have two boys: Felix, who was born on January 27, 2003 in Toronto, Canada, and Kenneth, who was born on June 15, 2009 in Ithaca, New York. iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The dissertation would not be completed without the supports from so many people. I would like to thank my adviser, Dr. Michael Sturman, who provides me guidance throughout the process and serves me as a role model, a competent researcher as well as a devoted educator. I would also like to thank my committee members, Dr. John Hausknecht and Dr. John Bunge, who offer me suggestions and assistance on the dissertation development. My thanks also go to my family, mom, dad, Kevin, Felix, and Kenneth for their love and support. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter One: Introduction 1 Chapter Two: Literature Review 5 The Criterion-Related Validity Dynamism of Personality Traits over Time 5 The Criterion-Related Validity Dynamism of Conscientiousness 9 The Criterion-Related Validity Dynamism of Neuroticism 15 The Criterion-Related Validity Dynamism of Extraversion 22 The Criterion-Related Validity Dynamism of Openness 30 The Criterion-Related Validity Dynamism of Agreeableness 36 Chapter Three: Methods 41 Inclusion Criteria 41 Literature Search 42 Definitions and Measures of Key Constructs 43 Personality Traits 43 Definition of Personality 43 Measures of Personality Traits 44 Decisions on Special Situations Relating to Personality Traits Measures 46 Job performance 47 Definition of Job Performance 47 Measures of Job Performance 47 Decisions on Special Situations Relating to Job Performance Measures 49 v Temporal Variables 50 Definition of Temporal Variables 50 Measures of Temporal Variables 51 Decisions on Special Situations Relating to Temporal Variables Measures 51 Moderators 53 Job Complexity 53 Definition of Job Complexity 53 Measures of Job Complexity 53 Decisions on Special Situations Relating to Job Complexity Measures 56 Global versus Composite Performance Measures 57 Description of Global and Composite Performance Measures 57 Measures of Global and Composite Performance 58 Decisions Special Situations Relating to Global and Composite Performance Measures 58 Meta-analysis 58 Methods 58 Hunter & Schmidt’s Method 58 HLM Method 59 z-transformation 59 Level-1 model 60 Level-2 model 60 vi Sample Independence 61 Sample Size 63 Effect Size Calculation 63 Attenuation Correction 63 Correction for Predictor Reliability 63 Correction for Criterion Reliability 64 Consideration of Outliers 65 Prediction Bias 66 Missing Information Substitution 66 Temporal Variables 67 Reliability Information for Personality Measures 69 Reliability Information for Performance Measures 70 Job Complexity 70 Chapter Four: Results 78 Mean Effect Size for Each Big Five Trait as Performance Predictor with Hunter & Schmidt‘s Method 72 Results of Level-2 Unconditional Model with HLM Method 75 Results of Level-2 Conditional Model with HLM Method 76 Chapter Five: Discussion 78 Key Findings 78 Implications for Research on Personality Traits and Selection 79 Significance of Each Big Five Trait as Performance Predictor 79 Higher Validity of Extraversion and Agreeableness as Performance Predictor among Young Employees 80 vii Age-Related Weakened Correlation between Extraversion and Agreeableness and Job Performance 81 Moderating Effect of Job Complexity on Personality Trait-Job Performance Correlation 86 Limitations 88 Future Research 89 Conclusion 91 Appendix A: List of Primary Studies Used in the Meta-Analysis 103 Appendix B: Major Characteristics of Primary Studies 113 Appendix C: Summary of Personality Measures across Primary Studies 120 C1: Variation within Personality Measures 128 C2: Personality Traits Rated by Others 129 Appendix D: Summary of Performance Measures across Primary Studies 130 D1: Performance Measures (Some Special Cases) 147 Appendix E: Summary of Participants‘ Occupations across Primary Studies 149 References 162 viii LIST OF TABLES Table 3.1 Measures of Temporal Variables 93 Table 3.2 Reliability Information for Personality Measures 93 Table 3.3 Reliability Information for Performance Measures 93 Table 3.4 Information on Job Zone 94 Table 4.1 Meta-Analyses of Mean Effect Sizes Using Hunter & Schmidt‘s Method 95 Table 4.2 List of Outliers among the Primary Studies 97 Table 4.3 Meta-Analyses of Mean Effect Sizes Using HLM Method 98 (Result of Level-2 Unconditional Model) Table 4.4 Variance Significance of Effect Sizes Using HLM Method (Result of Level-2 Unconditional Model) 98 Table 4.5 Moderating Effects from Age Using HLM Method Openness (Result of Level-2 Conditional Model) 99 Table 4.6 Moderating Effects from Age Using HLM Method Conscientiousness (Result of Level-2 Conditional Model) 99 Table 4.7 Moderating Effects from Age Using HLM Method Extraversion (Result of Level-2 Conditional Model) 99 Table 4.8 Moderating Effects from Age Using HLM Method Agreeableness (Result of Level-2 Conditional Model) 100 Table 4.9 Moderating Effects from Age Using HLM Method Neuroticism (Result of Level-2 Conditional Model) 100 Table 4.10 Moderating Effects from Organizational Tenure Using HLM Method-Openness (Result of Level-2 Conditional Model) 101 Table 4.11Moderating Effects from Organizational Tenure Using HLM Method-Conscientiousness (Result of Level-2 Conditional Model) 101 Table 4.12 Moderating Effects from Organizational Tenure ix Using HLM Method-Extraversion (Result of Level-2 Conditional Model) 101 Table 4.13 Moderating Effects from Organizational Tenure Using HLM Method-Agreeableness (Result of Level-2 Conditional Model)102 Table 4.14 Moderating Effects from Organizational Tenure Using HLM Method-Neuroticism (Result of Level-2 Conditional Model) 102 x Validity Dynamism of Personality Traits in the Selection Context CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION The idea of dynamic criteria or dynamic performance (i.e., that an individual‘s job performance changes with the passage of time) is not new (e.g., Ghiselli, 1956; Ghiselli & Haire, 1960; Humphreys, 1960). Several theoretical works predicted that job performance changes over time, including Alvares and Hulin‘s changing task model (1972), Ackerman‘s task performance model (1987, 1988), and Murphy‘s job performance model