Date of Award

3-1-1996

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Department

Counseling

First Advisor

Dr. Joe Davis

Second Advisor

Dr. Scott Harrington

Third Advisor

Dr. Jeannette Seaberry

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the accuracy of performance predictions made about job applicants on the basis of information obtained from a computergenerated personality profile and an interview transcript. Fourteen employees of a midwest company, posing as job applicants, completed the Wonderlic Comprehensive Personality Profile (CPP) and answered six interview questions. Another group of individuals, referred to as the Evaluators, read the CPP computer-generated personality profiles and the interview transcripts, and answered questions regarding the expected job performance of the Applicants. The Evaluators were divided into two groups: Human Resource Evaluators and non-Human Resource Evaluators. The Applicants and their supervisors formed five groups based on their jobs. The evaluators' ratings that followed their review of the personality test profiles were compared to the ratings of the job applicants' supervisors who answered equivalent questions. The evaluators' ratings that followed their review of the interview transcripts were also compared to the ratings of the supervisors. The evaluators' ratings that were based on their review of the personality test profiles were compared to their own ratings that were based on their review of the interview transcripts. Finally, there was a comparison between the Human Resource Evaluators' ratings and the non - Human Resource Evaluators' ratings. This study found statistically significant differences between the ratings provided by the Evaluators and the ratings provided by the supervisors when the Evaluators' ratings were based on the personality test profiles. The difference between the Evaluators' ratings and the supervisors' ratings were not statistically significant when the Evaluators' ratings were based on the interview transcripts. Another aspect of this study was the examination of the differences between the Evaluators' ratings that were based on the personality test profiles and their ratings on the same questions about the same Applicants that were based on the interview transcripts. This analysis found a significant difference between the personality test profiles ratings and the interview transcript ratings for 17% of the questions. The study also looked at the differences in ratings between the Human Resource Evaluators and and the non-Human Resource Evaluators. The differences between these two groups were not found to be statistically significant when their ratings were based on the personality test profiles or the interview transcripts. Effect size values, however, were found to vary between small and large. The HR Evaluators gave ratings that were closer to the supervisors' ratings when thepersonality test profiles were used. The non-HR Evaluatorsgave ratings that were closer to the supervisors' ratings when the interview transcripts were used.

Comments

A Thesis Presented to the Department of Counseling and the Faculty of the Graduate College University of Nebraska In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Arts University of Nebraska at Omaha. Copyright 1996, Judi Biniamow

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