Integrity tests and other criterion-focused occupational personality scales (COPS) used in personnel selection

This article focuses on personality measures constructed for prediction of individual differences in particular work behaviors of interest (e.g., viol ence at work, employee theft, customer service). These scales can generical ly be referred to as criterion-focused occupational personality scales (COP S). Examples include integrity tests (which aim to predict dishonest behavi ors at work), violence scales (which aim to predict violent behaviors at wo rk), drug and alcohol avoidance scales (which aim to predict substance abus e at work), stress tolerance scales (which aim to predict handling work pre ssures well) and customer service scales (which aim to predict serving cust omers well). We first review the criterion-related validity, construct vali dity and incremental validity evidence for integrity tests, violence scales , stress tolerance scales, and customer service scales. Specifically, valid ities for counterproductive work behaviors and overall job performance are summarized as well as relations with the Big Five personality scales (consc ientiousness, emotional stability, openness to experience, agreeableness an d extraversion). Second, we compare the usefulness of COPS with traditional , general purpose, adult personality scales. We also highlight the theoreti cal and practical implications of these comparisons and suggest a research agenda in this area.