The use of personality test norms in work settings: Effects of sample size and relevance

The value of personality test norms for use in work settings depends on norm sample size (N) and relevance, yet research on these criteria is scant and corresponding standards are vague. Using basic statistical principles and Hogan Personality Inventory (HPI) data from 5 sales and 4 trucking samples...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of occupational and organizational psychology 2009-09, Vol.82 (3), p.639-659
Main Authors: Tett, Robert P., Fitzke, Jenna R., Wadlington, Patrick L., Davies, Scott A., Anderson, Michael G., Foster, Jeff
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Biological and medical sciences
Demographics
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Norms
Occupational psychology
Occupations
Organizational behaviour
Personality
Personality tests
Personality traits
Psychological tests
Psychology
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychology. Psychophysiology
Psychometrics
Regression analysis
Reliability
Sales
Sampling
Standard scores
Statistical analysis
Studies
Work environment
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:The value of personality test norms for use in work settings depends on norm sample size (N) and relevance, yet research on these criteria is scant and corresponding standards are vague. Using basic statistical principles and Hogan Personality Inventory (HPI) data from 5 sales and 4 trucking samples (N range=394–6,200), we show that (a) N>100 has little practical impact on the reliability of norm‐based standard scores (max=±10 percentile points in 99% of samples) and (b) personality profiles vary more from using different norm samples, between as well as within job families. Averaging across scales, T‐scores based on sales versus trucking norms differed by 7.3 points, whereas maximum differences averaged 7.4 and 7.5 points within the sets of sales and trucking norms, respectively, corresponding in each case to approximately ±14 percentile points. Slightly weaker results obtained using nine additional samples from clerical, managerial, and financial job families, and regression analysis applied to the 18 samples revealed demographic effects on four scale means independently of job family. Personality test developers are urged to build norms for more diverse populations, and test users, to develop local norms to promote more meaningful interpretations of personality test scores.
ISSN:0963-1798
2044-8325
DOI:10.1348/096317908X336159