Open Accesspotentials of a dialogical reframing of personality testing in hiring
Author(s) -
Kathrine Møller Solgaard,
Morten Nissen
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
international review of theoretical psychologies
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 2597-3479
DOI - 10.7146/irtp.v1i2.128015
Subject(s) - dialogical self , cognitive reframing , personality , personnel selection , selection (genetic algorithm) , social psychology , psychology , test (biology) , sociology , computer science , management , artificial intelligence , paleontology , economics , biology
Personality testing is highly disputed, yet, widely used as a personnel selection tool. In most research, it is taken for granted that personality tests are used with the purpose of achieving a more objective assessment of job candidates. However, in Danish organizations the personality test is often framed as a ‘dialogue tool’. This paper explores the potentials of a dialogical reframing of the use of personality testing in personnel selection by analyzing empirical material from an ethnographic study of the hiring processes in a Danish trade union that declaredly uses personality tests as a dialogue tool. Through an affirmative critique we identify five framings that interact during the test-based dialogue: The ‘meritocratic’, ‘disciplinary’, ‘dialogical’, ‘pastoral’, and ‘con-test’ framing. Our study suggests that being committed to a dialogical reframing nurtures the possibility of focusing on what we call the ‘con-test’: Either as exploring the meta-competences of the candidate or as co-creating embryos through joint reflections on organizational issues. We argue that the long-lasting debates in the field of selection-related personality testing should be much more interested in the question of how personality tests in hiring are used, rather than whether or not they should be used.