Personality and Situational Judgment Tests Across Applicant and Incumbent Settings: An Examination of Validity, Measurement, and Subgroup Differences

The effects of concurrent versus predictive designs were examined in 2 large samples of incumbents (N = 2,989) and applicants (N = 7,259) for 3 measures of personality and a situational judgment test (SJT). Results showed that applicants scored significantly higher than incumbents on the personality measures and significantly lower on the SJT. Regarding measurement equivalence, the results indicate that the same form of factor structure is found in both settings, with the factor structures themselves being generally invariant. Importantly, the criterion-related validities were equivalent across samples. Subgroup differences were small to moderate in both settings, though varying across race and gender. Limitations and directions for future research are offered.