CRITERION-RELATED VALIDITIES OF PERSONALITY CONSTRUCTS AND THE EFFECT OF RESPONSE DISTORTION ON THOSE VALIDITIES

A review of criterion-related validities of personality constructs indicated that six constructs are useful predictors of important job-related criteria. An inventory was developed to measure the 6 constructs. In addition, 4 response validity scales were developed to measure accuracy of self-description. These scales were administered in three contexts: a concurrent criterion-related validity study, a faking experiment, and an applicant setting. Sample sizes were 9,188,245, and 125, respectively. Results showed that (a) validities were in the.20s (uncorrected for unreliability or restriction in range) against targeted criterion constructs, (b) respondents successfully distorted their self-descriptions when instructed to do so, (c) response validity scales were responsive to different types of distortion, (d) applicants' responses did not reflect evidence of distortion, and (e) validities remained stable regardless of possible distortion by respondents in either unusually positive or negative directions.