Personality Types and Applicant Reactions in Real‐life Selection

Abstract

The study aimed to determine if an applicant's personality type is associated with his/her reactions (fairness perceptions, face validity perceptions, and predictive validity perceptions) to the selection process. The participants (N = 258) were real‐life applicants for admission to a vocational school. A person‐centered approach was applied to find subgroups with similar personality profiles. Latent profile analysis found four personality types: Resilient (45%), Overcontrolled (13%), Undercontrolled (10%), and Bohemian (32%). The Resilient and Bohemian personality types had more favorable perceptions of test fairness than the Overcontrolled type. Personality type did not affect face validity or predictive validity perceptions. The results suggest that personality (type) could be included in applicant reactions models and in analyses investigating the antecedents of applicant reactions.

Applicant Personality and Procedural Justice Perceptions of Group Selection Interviews

“…Support for this line of reasoning can be found in the study by Honkaniemi et al (2013) on personality types. They demonstrated that applicants with an overcontrolled personality profile (including high scores on neuroticism and low scores on extraversion) rated a selection process as less fair than applicants who were characterized as resilient (including low scores on neuroticism and high scores on extroversion) when controlling for the effects of the individual big five traits.…”

“…At lower levels of agreeableness, however, extraversion may not contribute much to perceived fairness; being argumentative, skeptical, and uncooperative may predispose applicants to view groups interviews as less fair, regardless of their standing on the extraversion dimension. In line with this argument, Honkaniemi et al (2013) found that resilient (including high extraversion and high agreeableness) applicants expressed more positive fairness reactions than overcontrolled (including low extraversion and low agreeableness) applicants.…”

“…Research demonstrates substantial variability in applicants’ reactions to selection tools, suggesting that applicants’ reactions are not only shaped by external factors associated with the specific selection context (i.e., factors under the organization’s control), but are also shaped by individual differences (Ryan and Huth 2008). For selection professionals, it may be useful to know how much of the variation in applicant reactions is bound by the applicants’ dispositions and thus not amenable to change by the organization (Honkaniemi et al 2013; Truxillo et al 2006). Moreover, understanding which specific traits shape applicants’ reactions can be useful in selection system design.…”

“…Secondly, extant studies of personality and applicant fairness perceptions have largely investigated bivariate relationships or additive effects of personality traits (Bernerth et al 2006; McFarland 2003; Merkulova et al 2014; Oostrom et al 2010; Truxillo et al 2006), which leaves unaddressed the potentially important effects of specific interactions between traits (Honkaniemi et al 2013). Finally, quite a few studies in this area have employed student samples in classroom or lab-settings (Bernerth et al 2006; McFarland 2003; Oostrom et al 2010; Wiechmann and Ryan 2003).…”

“…Apart from Honkaniemi et al’s (2013) study of personality types and applicant reactions, this issue has been overlooked in previous studies of personality traits and applicant reactions. We therefore focus on two trait combinations which should be especially relevant to how individuals experience the group interview: the interaction between neuroticism and extraversion (the affective plane) and the interaction between extraversion and agreeableness (the interpersonal plane) (Costa and McCrae 1992b).…”