Brief Report. The Effect of the Accountability Instruction and Two Job Types on the Big Five Scores

Abstract

Summary: Self-report questionnaires are susceptible to social desirability, and applicants can adapt their answers to job requirements. To combat social-desirable responding, subjects are asked to answer spontaneously and not think too long about their answer. Hofstee (1996) faces this problem in a different way by proposing to ask the applicant to answer accountably, in other words, to prove answers through future behavior. In the first study 46 subjects filled in the Big Five under the spontaneous and accountability conditions. Contrary to expectations, there was a small but significant effect. If subjects were asked to give answers they would have to account for, they scored higher on conscientiousness and emotional stability. In the second study subjects filled in the Big Five for two jobs differing in the extent to which the applicant has to manage people or systems. In line with expectations, there was an effect of autonomy but contrary to expectations not of conscientiousness and extroversion. The practical consequences of the accountability instruction for the validity of personality questionnaires and of job types for norms are discussed.

The personality profile of the accountable nurse and missed nursing care

“…Accountability, on the other hand, requires that individuals be more thick-skinned, so that high-accountability employees take responsibility for their decisions and approve of being judged against accepted values in the workplace, despite facing negative and even hostile reactions from colleagues (Leonenko & Drach-Zahavy, 2016). Thus, the ability to be judged against accepted social values might be negatively linked to neurotic individuals' defensiveness (Ter Laak, Van Leuven, & Brugman, 2000).…”