Do Personality Assessments Really Work?

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Do Personality Assessments Really Work?

“Learners need endless feedback more than they need endless teaching”

Grant Wiggins

Personality assessments are becoming more and more popular across a wide variety of industries: business, education, sports, the military, you name it. In these organizations, personality assessments are being embedded into HR practices ranging from hiring and selection to employee development and promotion. While assessments certainly provide a wealth of information, the question many decision-makers have on their mind is “Do personality assessments really work?” In other words, can they be trusted as indicators of candidates’ and employees’ ability? The short answer is “yes”. The long answer is that not all assessments were created equal; you’ll have to pick one that was scientifically developed and make sure that you are interpreting and applying the results correctly. In this blog, we’ll teach you how.

The Importance of Test Development

In order to find a personality assessment that works, you will need to find one that was properly (i.e., scientifically) developed. To do this, we recommend asking vendors for the supporting psychometric materials. These documents will describe how the test was developed, what it is intended to measure, and any research or data that supports the test’s validation process. You can use these technical documents to evaluate and compare personality assessments. When doing so, here are five things you can look for to make sure you’re choosing a strong assessment:¹

1. The assessment uses an evidence-based model of personality.
2. It measures traits that are relevant to the job.
3. It was created by those with expertise in psychometrics.
4. It has been validated on a sample that is similar to the candidate pool.
5. There is evidence of strong reliability and predictive validity.

Check for Validity & Reliability

One of the most important steps in finding a personality assessment that works is to check for strong validity and reliability.

• Validity is like the accuracy of an assessment. In other words, how well does it measure what it says it’s going to measure?
• Reliability, on the other hand, refers to how consistent the assessment is. In other words, how regularly does it produce the same score?

There are several ways in which you can learn about the validity and reliability of an assessment. We recommend checking the psychometric materials (as described above) or seeing if you can find information on the test provider’s website.

Tip: One of the most important types of validity to look for is criterion validity. Criterion validity describes the predictive power of a test. When using a test for selection, the test should be able to predict outcomes that are relevant to job performance.

Shorter is Sweeter: Only Measure Traits Relevant to the Job

Although some may argue that it’s better to assess as much as possible, we recommend measuring only those traits that are relevant to the job (or using only those scores). Personality assessments will be better predictors of workplace behaviors when the focus is on job-specific performance metrics. Don’t measure everything and hope for high scores across the board. High scores are not always better – balance is important. For example, you might not need an extroverted computer programmer. In fact, high scores on extraversion could be a problem for that position. Be sure you can justify why each trait you are looking for is relevant to that leader’s particular role, and use benchmarking to tailor your assessments to those traits. This will help you make better decisions with the information you need, rather than getting sidetracked by excessive and potentially irrelevant data.

For more information on how to benchmark the LSP-R Focus Report, please contact us.

Interpreting and Applying Results Correctly

In addition to finding an assessment that has been properly developed, it is also important that results are correctly interpreted and applied. For example, how an assessment is used might look different for hiring and selection than it does when used for employee development. The way that results are interpreted may also change depending on the context. Some research has shown that individual differences can be helpful to consider when interpreting results. For more information and some practical tips and tricks, check out SIGMA’s guides on using leadership assessments across cultures, and how to interpret leadership assessment results across cultures.

The Big Picture – Do Personality Assessments Work?

At the end of the day, we stand by our conclusion that personality assessments do work. When properly developed, a personality assessment can be used to identify individual skills, strengths, and development opportunities. Results can also be used to make inferences about leadership potential and leadership style. Studies have also confirmed that personality assessments do, in fact, work:

• A study done by Bass and colleagues found that leaders’ scores on transformational and transactional leadership assessments positively predicted the group’s performance²
• A study done by Shane and colleagues found that certain leadership skills and knowledge did account for variance in a leader’s effectiveness³

Introducing the LSP-R®

If you’re looking for an assessment that works, check out SIGMA’s Leadership Skills Profile – Revised® (LSP-R®). The LSP-R is a personality-based assessment of leadership skills and abilities that can be used to guide employee development efforts. The test scores individuals on 50 leadership competencies including cognitive, personal, interpersonal, and senior leadership skills. Everyone who takes the LSP-R will automatically receive a Focus Report which includes a summary of scores, analysis of results, and templates and activities for creating a personalized development plan.

¹ Di Fabio, A., & Saklofske, D. H. (2019). Positive relational management for sustainable development: Beyond personality traits—The contribution of emotional intelligence. Sustainability, 11(2), 330. https://doi.org/10.3390/su11020330

² Bass, B. M., Avolio, B. J., Jung, D. I., & Berson, Y. (2003). Predicting unit performance by assessing transformational and transactional leadership. Journal of Applied Psychology, 88(2), 207–218. https://doi.org/10.1037/0021-9010.88.2.207

³ Connelly, M.S., Gilbert, J.A., Zaccaro, S.J., Threfall, K.V., Marks, M.A., & Mumford, M.D. (2000). Exploring the relationship of leadership skills and knowledge to leader performance. The Leadership Quarterly, 11(1), 65-68.