Improvements in recruitment processes: selection of employees with online tests and the Big Five personality model

Abstract

The need for online testing has increased dramatically during the last decade. In 2011, more than 80% of US companies are using online testing and in Germany 7 out of 10 job applications are submitted in electronic form. The increasing demand for online testing is not only driven by generic trends such as globalization and the internationalization of business or the need for cost saving measures. Online testing offers substantial advantages over both paper-based and computer-based testing. With the help of online tests, it is relatively easy to implement worldwide standards for the selection process and to manage the selection process centrally. In parallel, major advances have been made with developing a personality model which has proven to be successful in predicting job performance. Recent studies and meta analysis compared various predictors of job performance such as personality tests and assessment centers. These meta analyses show that personality tests based on the Big Five model are able to predict job performance better than intelligence tests and even better than assessment centers. The Big Five model is a personality model which integrates the various numbers of different personality traits and sets the foundation for a common taxonomy of personality dimensions. To fulfill the need for an online selection method based on the Big Five personality model a psychological online test has been developed as an open access project under a Creative Commons License (Satow, 2011). Between July 2010 and December 2010, 4.597 participants completed the test. The B5T consists of 5 scales (one for each personality dimension) which all reached good to very good reliability indices (Cronbachs alpha). Especially the two important scales Extroversion and Neuroticism showed a high internal consistency. Variance analysis (ANOVA) revealed significant differences between job profiles for four of the Big Five dimension. In a blockwise regression analysis Neuroticism (-.07), Openness (.14) and Agreeableness (- .07) were able to predict income. The overall explained variance increased from 23% to 25%. The results are providing strong evidence that the open access B5T is reliable and valid measure of the Big Five personality model and allows differentiating between different job profiles.