The aim of this study was to examine applicant and method factors related to ethnic score differences on a cognitive ability test, a personality test, an assessment center (AC), an employment interview, and a final employment recommendation in the context of police officer selection (N = 13,526). Score differences between the majority group and the first-generation minority groups were comparable to research findings from the literature. However, score differences between the majority group and second-generation minority groups were much smaller. On the cognitive ability test and the personality test most variability was explained by Dutch language-proficiency. Confirming assumed-characteristics theory, more variability on the interview and the employment recommendation was explained by Dutch language-proficiency and education than on the AC. Unsupportive of complexity-extremity theory, there seemed to be a general tendency to give lower scores to the ethnic minority group.The personnel selection literature has extensively investigated differences on psychological measures between ethnic minority and majority groups. This study focuses on ethnicity-related applicant demographics, such as language-proficiency and education, and their interplay with selection-method factors in their impact on test scores.

In a field study conducted in a multi-ethnic selection setting at the Dutch police, we examined the construct validity of a video-based situational judgment test (SJT) aimed to measure the construct of integrity. Integrity is of central importance to productive work performance of police officers. We used a sample of police applicants, which consisted of a Dutch ethnic majority group and an ethnic minority group. The ethnic minority applicants came from one of the four largest ethnic minority groups in The Netherlands, namely groups with a Dutch Antillean, a Moroccan, a Surinamese, or a Turkish background. A critical issue is the often-found construct-heterogeneity of SJTs. However, we found that a construct-driven approach may be fruitful in the development of SJTs aiming to measure one single construct. Confirming our expectations, we found support for the construct validity of the SJT intended to measure the construct of integrity. These results held across ethnic majority and ethnic minority applicants. Therefore, the SJT is a promising test for personnel selection in a multi-ethnic setting.

A judgment-analysis study was used to investigate assessors' judgment processes, evaluating ethnic minority vs ethnic majority applicants. Sixteen ethnic majority assessors judged 5089 applicants during the Dutch police officer selection procedure, with each assessor judging 30 ethnic minority applicants minimally. Information from an employment interview, an assessment center, and a Big Five personality test were combined into a final selection advice. Results showed that as much as or more information sources were used to judge ethnic minority than ethnic majority applicants. Furthermore, a larger number of irrelevant cues were used for the judgment of ethnic minority applicants. Finally, when judging ethnic minority applicants, assessors based their decision to a lesser extent on their own ratings than on ratings of others.

This study investigated the criterion-related validity of cognitive ability as well as non-cognitive ability measures and differences between ethnic majority (N ¼ 2365) and minority applicants (N ¼ 682) in Dutch police officer selection. Findings confirmed the relatively low predictive validity of cognitive ability generally found for police jobs. Previous research reported no differential prediction. The present study, however, found small but systematic evidence for differences in validity for the ethnic majority and minority group of both cognitive and non-cognitive measures. For the minority group, training performance appeared to be mainly predicted by the cognitive ability test. For the majority group, cognitive ability showed very little predictive power. Non-cognitive ability variables appeared to be somewhat more predictive in this group.

No abstract