APPLICANT REACTIONS TO PERSONALITY TESTS - EFFECTS OF ITEM INVASIVENESS AND FACE VALIDITY

In a simulated employee selection exercise, two hundred and ten partic ipants responded to a personality test that varied in terms of item in vasiveness and item face validity. A third factor of empirical job-rel atedness was manipulated via test instructions. Reactions to the test, the organization, and behavioral intentions about accepting a job off er were measured. Results indicated that item invasiveness and face va lidity interacted in the prediction of all dependent variables. Specif ically, item invasiveness affected the dependent variables only when f ace validity was low. Implications for the use of personality tests an d integrity tests were discussed.