An Openness scale for the California Psychological Inventory

We developed a 36-item scale to measure Openness, using items on the Califo rnia Psychological Inventory (CM; Cough, 1957, 1987, 1996), Form 434. Items were initially chosen on the basis of content validity. Five samples (N = 2,375) were used to establish reliability, validity, and norms; 4 samples c onsisted of university undergraduate students, and 1 comprised applicants f or nonmanagement call center jobs. Internal consistency estimates obtained in each sample averaged approximately .75, and test-retest stability, asses sed in 1 sample, was estimated at .84. Cross-correlations with related scal es, fur example, the NEO Personality Inventory-Revised Openness scale (Cost a & McCrae, 1992) and other CPI-based scales, provided evidence of construc t validity. Statistically significant predictive validities were obtained i n 2 call center job-incumbent samples, with range-corrected true validities of .20 to .36 for a number of job performance criteria. Construct and pred ictive validity were found to be higher than for other scales consisting of CPI items designed to measure Openness or a related construct. Finally, no rms were prepared for university undergraduate students (n = 1,847) and non management service-sector job applicants (n = 528).