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Linearity of Personality–Performance Relationships: A large‐scale examination
Author(s) -
Whetzel Deborah L.,
McDaniel Michael A.,
Yost Amy Powell,
Kim Nicole
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
international journal of selection and assessment
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.812
H-Index - 61
eISSN - 1468-2389
pISSN - 0965-075X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1468-2389.2010.00514.x
Subject(s) - psychology , personality , nonlinear system , linearity , scale (ratio) , social psychology , econometrics , quadratic equation , sample (material) , big five personality traits , linear regression , personality test , statistics , psychometrics , mathematics , developmental psychology , test validity , engineering , physics , geometry , chromatography , quantum mechanics , electrical engineering , chemistry
This paper reviews theory and past research concerning nonlinear relationships between personality tests and job performance. We compare linear and nonlinear regression models for each of the 32 Occupational Personality Questionnaire (OPQ32i) scales using job performance as the criterion variable. We evaluate linear, quadratic, and cubic relationships between personality and job performance by calculating changes in R (Δ R ) between the linear and nonlinear models. We use 3 decision rules of varying levels for Δ R and divide a large sample randomly into 2 samples to cross‐validate any nonlinear effects found. Few scales exhibited nonlinearity and the magnitude of the departures from linearity were small.