The validity and utility of selection methods in personnel psychology: Practical and theoretical implications of 85 years of research findings.
Psychological Bulletin
1998. Vol 124 No. 2, 262-274
Copyright 1998 by the American Psychological Association
One of the most cited and important scholarly works in the field of IO Psychology and certainly a huge influence on my education and career has been the seminal work by Frank Schmidt and John Hunter, The validity and utility of selection methods in personnel psychology: Practical and theoretical implications of 85 years of research findings. Professors Schmidt and Hunter, through a research methodology called meta-analysis, set out to investigate 85 years of research across 19 different selection procedures to determine what are the most practical, valid, and predictive methods for selecting employees. Looking across thousands of studies they found some very interesting and revealing results.
- GMA (General Mental Ability) has the highest validity in predicting job performance and the lowest cost making it a very practical tool for employee selection. It is also the best predictor of job related learning.
- GMA is a better predictor of performance for high complexity jobs compared to low complexity jobs.
- Work sample tests are slightly more valid than cognitive assessments but typically are more costly to develop and can only be used for specific positions.
- Structured interviews are quite valid and predictive of performance but can be costly and perhaps not very appropriate for inexperienced entry level candidates.
- Personality related assessments of integrity and conscientiousness had strong predictive validity and incremental validity over GMA.
- Structured interviews are 34% more predictive than unstructured interviews.
- Overall, the 3 combinations with the highest predictive validity for job performance were…
i. GMA plus a work sample test
ii. GMA plus an integrity test
iii. GMA plus a structured interview
Article by Brandon Jordan