A meta-analysis of the situational interview: An enumerative review of reasons for its validity

The premise underlying the situational. interview (SI) is that intentions p redict behaviour. The distinguishing characteristics of the SI include the depiction of a dilemma in the interview question, the use of an item scorin g guide, and summative scoring of items to yield a total interview score. A meta-analysis indicated that the weighted mean observed criterion-related validity of the SI is .35 (n = 1010), and the mean corrected criterion-rela ted validity is .47. An enumerative review of the literature revealed that the SI is applicable across a diversity of jobs, participants, performance criteria, and countries. The criterion-related validation evidence for the SI is explained in terms of content, construct, and incremental validity, f reedom from interviewer biases, and practicality. The article concludes wit h a comparison of the SI to interviews that measure either past behaviours or future intentions where the interview question does not contain a dilemm a or scoring guide, and performance dimensions rather than each individual item are scored.