Personality and drug testing: An exploration of the perceived fairness of alternatives to urinalysis

Abstract

ABSTRACt. Paper-and-pencil inventories have been suggested as a less invasive alternative to urinalysis drug testing. Using 702 students in three experiments, an overt integrity test, a personality inventory, an interest inventory and a no-testing control condition were compared. Subjects reacted most positively when no testing was required. When drug testing was required, subjects were most satisfied with either overt tests or urinalysis, and least satisfied with the personality inventory. Attempts to increase the acceptability of personality testing by providing explanations and rationale had no effect on subjects' attitudes.For most people, the terms ~drug testing ~ and ~inalysis" are essentially synonymous, at least in employment contexts. Most of the literature concerning drug testing has centered on various biochemical methods designed to detect the presence of drug metabolites in an individual's urine. Yet this is cert~in|y not the only approach being used to screen out employees who are likely to use drugs on the job. An alternafive approach consists of the use of paper-and-pencil inventories cornWe wish to express our appreciation to Andrew Co]felt for his assistance in research design and data collection, and to Kevin Murphy and Terry Stecher for their comments on previous draits of this paper.

Achieving Ethics and Fairness in Hiring: Going Beyond the Law

“…As a result, these types of questions diminish the transparency and perceived fairness of biographical inventories and personality inventories. Thus, they are often considered unfair (Rosse et al, 1996b;Smither et al, 1993) despite their above average ability to effectively predict candidates' job performance (Hunter and Hunter, 1984).…”

The deterrent value of drug and integrity testing

“…If personality testing--both in general and with specific reference to drug/integrity testing--is useful, our results point to the need to find ways to make it more acceptable to job applicants. As Rosse et al (1996) note, factors to consider in such research include using personality inventories that are designed to enhance face validity and m~nlmlze privacy invasion; providing additional explanation of the purpose of the personality measure; and expressing concern to exRmlnees about the invasiveness of the personality measure. The current study suggests that the efficacy of these techniques may be enhanced by focusing primarily on those individuals whose concerns are based on principled dissent rather than a self-interested motive of avoiding detection.…”

“…Ai~r they read all materials and completed any paper-and-pencil "tests," subjects completed a survey which assessed their reactions to the firm and its selection procedures. A complete description of the experimental procedures can be found in Rosse, Ringer and Miller (1996).…”

Perceptions of Overt and Personality‐based Integrity Tests

“…Employee judges rated the overt PSI as higher in job-relevance, and lower in offensiveness and invasiveness than either of the personality-based inventories. Similarly, Rosse, Ringer and Miller (1996) found that college student research participants that were administered an integrity test modeled on commercially available overt tests reported significantly higher impressions of the instrument than subjects that were administered an integrity test modeled after commercially available personality-based measures. It is important to note that Rosse et al (1996) intentionally over-sampled items that were relevant to drug use in order to achieve their research objectives.…”

“…Similarly, Rosse, Ringer and Miller (1996) found that college student research participants that were administered an integrity test modeled on commercially available overt tests reported significantly higher impressions of the instrument than subjects that were administered an integrity test modeled after commercially available personality-based measures. It is important to note that Rosse et al (1996) intentionally over-sampled items that were relevant to drug use in order to achieve their research objectives. Even so, both Jones (1991) and Rosse et al (1996) provide preliminary evidence that test takers perceive overt integrity measures as more appropriate for personnel selection than personality-based measures.…”