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HONESTY TESTING FOR PERSONNEL SELECTION: A REVIEW AND CRITIQUE
Author(s) -
SACKETT PAUL R.,
HARRIS MICHAEL M.
Publication year - 1984
Publication title -
personnel psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 6.076
H-Index - 142
eISSN - 1744-6570
pISSN - 0031-5826
DOI - 10.1111/j.1744-6570.1984.tb01447.x
Subject(s) - psychology , honesty , personnel selection , suspect , test (biology) , predictive validity , test validity , population , reliability (semiconductor) , social psychology , validity , variety (cybernetics) , applied psychology , clinical psychology , psychometrics , statistics , demography , paleontology , power (physics) , mathematics , criminology , physics , quantum mechanics , sociology , biology
Paper and pencil predictors of employee theft are described and studies of validity, reliability, and adverse impact of these tests are examined. Validity studies for 10 tests were grouped into 5 categories: comparisons with polygraph examination results, correlations with admissions of past theft, predictive studies using future job behaviors as criteria, comparisons of shrinkage rates before and after the introduction of a testing program, and comparisons of test scores of groups known to be dishonest with groups representing the general population. While positive correlations were consistently found, a variety of methodological differences between studies were identified which make the direct comparison of test validities suspect. High reliabilities are consistently reported, and test score comparisons by race and sex generally report no differences. Ethical issues in honesty test usage are considered and future research needs are identified.