Interpersonal behavior in assessment center role‐play exercises: Investigating structure, consistency, and effectiveness

Abstract

Although the behaviors displayed by assessees are the currency of assessment centers (ACs), they have remained largely unexplored. This is surprising because a better understanding of assessees’ behaviors may provide the missing link between research on the determinants of assessee performance and research on the validity of performance ratings. Therefore, this study draws on behavioral personality science to scrutinize the behaviors that assessees express in interpersonal AC exercises. Our goals were to investigate (a) the structure of interpersonal behaviors, (b) the consistency of these behaviors across AC exercises, and (c) their effectiveness. We obtained videotaped performances of 203 assessees who took part in AC role‐plays in a high‐stakes context. Apart from assessors’ performance ratings, trained experts also independently coded assessees on over 40 specific behavioral cues in these role‐plays (e.g., clear statements, upright posture, freezing). Results were threefold: First, the structure underlying behavioral differences in interpersonal AC exercises was represented by four broad behavioral constructs: agency, communion, interpersonal calmness, and intellectual competence. Second, assessees’ behaviors showed more consistency across exercises than performance ratings did. Third, the behaviors were related to role‐play performance and predicted future interpersonal performance. We discuss the theoretical and practical implications of this study's granular, behavior‐driven perspective.

Measuring Distinct Social Skills via Multiple Speed Assessments

“…Neither the imputation nor the employment of the exclusion criteria substantially changed the estimation of the variance components (see Online Supplement S1, osf.io/jy5wd), so we only report results for the full sample using all observations (without imputation). 2 The reliability and validity of the selected behaviors were tested in another study (see Breil, Lievens, et al, 2021). Here, it was shown that these behaviors were observable within interpersonal role-plays, could be clearly assigned to distinguishable behavioral factors, were expressed relatively consistently across different exercises, and predicted future interpersonal performance.…”

“…In fact, a recent study (Breil, Lievens et al, 2021) showed that basic behavioral differences (e.g., warm behavior, assertive behavior, interpersonal calm behavior) can be differentiated in interpersonal AC exercises and are actually quite stable across AC exercises. This is supported by decades of research from behavioral personality science that has shown moderate to high behavioral consistency in a variety of behavioral domains across many different tasks and situations (e.g., Borkenau et al, 2004;Furr & Funder, 2004;Leikas et al, 2012;Sherman et al, 2010).…”

Predicting Actual Social Skill Expression from Personality and Skill Self-Concepts

“…The skill dimension revolving around emotional resilience or negative emotionality is also not “purely” interpersonal. Here, however, we refer to how one deals with stressors (i.e., criticism, time pressure, negative feedback) in the interpersonal domain, and thus label this skill dimension “interpersonal resilience.” In fact, research has suggested, “Emotional Stability may be more interpersonal than is often assumed” ( Leising and Bleidorn 2011, p. 990 ), and it has been shown that differences in emotional stability can be reliably assessed as part of (high-stakes) interpersonal situations ( Breil et al 2022b ; Hirschmüller et al 2015 ).…”

“…These include agency (i.e., getting ahead in social situations) and communion (i.e., getting along in social situations) as central behavioral differences in interpersonal interactions ( Dawood et al 2018 ; Wiggins 1979 ). Furthermore, recent studies have suggested that individuals also vary in the extent to which they can remain calm and relaxed when handling stressful interpersonal situations ( interpersonal resilience ; Breil et al 2022a , 2022b ; Hirschmüller et al 2015 ; Leising and Bleidorn 2011 ).…”

“…Expressed skills were assessed as part of different interpersonal role-plays in which specific behavioral responses (i.e., skill expression) were needed to perform effectively. Based on previous research ( Breil et al 2022a , 2022b ; Leising and Bleidorn 2011 ; Mielke et al 2022 ), we focused on three different social skills: agency (i.e., getting ahead in social situations), communion (i.e., getting along in social situations), and interpersonal resilience (i.e., staying calm in social situations). In order to capture the skills as “purely” as possible, we created the role-plays specifically to assess only one skill.…”