This paper is the fourth in a series of reviews of the use of measures of honesty, integrity, conscientiousness, dependability, trustworthiness, and reliability for personnel selection (see Sackett & Decker, 1979; Sackett & Harris, 1984; Sackett, Burris, & Callahan, 1989). New developments reviewed include an examination of professional and congressional inquiry into this area of testing, rapid growth of the validity data base, new insight into similarities and differences between different tests, and links to the Big Five personality dimensions. Inquiries into relationships with other constructs, including cognitive ability, moral reasoning, and social desirability are reviewed, as are applicant reactions to these tests. The effects of the Civil Rights Act of 1991 and the Americans with Disabilities Act are considered.
A judgmental sort of 798 items from 7 paper‐and‐pencil integrity tests produced 23 thematic composites. Patterns of correlations between these composites and the 7 integrity measures and 2 Big Five measures shed light on similarities and differences between different integrity tests. Principal components analysis of 23 composites indicated 4 principal components that further illuminate the content domain of integrity tests. The relationships between 4 integrity principal components and integrity test scores as well as measures of the Big Five dimensions of personality are reported. The findings suggest that integrity tests can differ in their emphasis on various thematic composites, and, yet, be very similar in terms of their standing on the 4 integrity principal components. Different integrity tests can be quite different in terms of surface content, and, yet, assess the same underlying constructs.
This selective review of integrity and honesty testing addresses two primary questions:`What do we know about honesty testing?' and`How do we use what we know?' Up-to-date information about test reliability, validity, and construct definition from recent reviews of the research literature in the USA is presented and interpreted. Relationships to other selection devices and personality measures are discussed, as well as how integrity tests fit into a multiple assessment selection system.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.