Nhung T. Nguyen

Subgroup Differences in Situational Judgment Test Performance: A Meta-Analysis

In this article, we describe a systematic review of mean race and sex differences in situational judgment test (SJT) performance. On average, White test takers perform better on SJTs than Black, Hispanic, and Asian test takers. Female examinees perform slightly better than male test takers on SJTs. We investigate two moderators of these differences: loading of g or personality on the SJT, and response instructions. Mean race differences between Black, Hispanic, Asian and White examinees in SJT performance are largely explained by the cognitive loading of the SJT such that the larger the cognitive load, the larger the mean race differences. Regarding the effect of personality loadings of SJTs on race differences, Black–White and Asian–White differences are smaller to the extent that the SJT is correlated with emotional stability and Hispanic–White differences are smaller to the extent that SJTs are correlated with conscientiousness and agreeableness. Cognitive loading has minimal effect on male–female SJT score differences; however, SJT score differences are larger, favoring women, when SJTs are correlated with conscientiousness and agreeableness. Concerning response instructions, knowledge response instructions showed greater race differences than behavioral tendency instructions. The mean correlations show that these differences are largely because of the greater g loading of knowledge instructions. A second study showed that when used in hiring, SJTs are likely to have adverse impact by race but not by sex.

Ethics Perception: Does Teaching Make a Difference?

The present study examined student learning in business ethics, particularly ethical judgment, using R. E. Reidenbach and D. P. Robins (1990) Multidimensional Ethics Scale (MES). The authors asked 262 undergraduate students to provide ethical judgment rating, first at the beginning of the semester and again at the end of the semester. Students judged 3 moral issues in the MES—labeled sales, auto, and retail—using 3 ethics theories: moral equity, relativism, and contractualism. Ethics learning was only significant in contractualism ethics for the auto scenario. Further, ethics learning significantly predicted ethical behavioral intent, supporting A. Banduras (1986) social cognitive theory. The authors provide theoretical and practical implications based on the studys findings.

The Relationship of Reliability and Validity of Personality Tests to Frame-of-Reference Instructions and Within-Person Inconsistency

The efficacy of both frame-of-reference (FOR) instructions and a measure of within-person inconsistency in predicting grade point average was investigated. The IPIP Big Five personality questionnaire was given to 329 students with generic instructions and at school FOR instructions. The Wonderlic Personnel Test was also administered. A measure of within-person inconsistency was created based on the standard deviations of responses to items within the same Big Five dimension. The validity of conscientiousness was greater when FOR instructions were given. The measure of within-person inconsistency provided incremental validity over that of conscientiousness and cognitive ability. Additionally, within-person inconsistency moderated the relationship between conscientiousness and performance for the participants without the FOR instructions. Practical implications are discussed.

A Validation Study of the Cross-Cultural Adaptability Inventory

Despite the claims made about the effectiveness of cross-cultural training programs, few studies have examined the reliability and validity of the instruments used in these training programs. In this study, the authors examined the factor structure of the Cross-Cultural Adaptability Inventory (CCAI) via a confirmatory factor analytic approach. A series of confirmatory factor analytic models was tested and applied at the item level to both the CCAI and Goldbergs Big Five Inventory. A confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) model in which a method factor was estimated fits the data significantly better than a model without such a method effect. Further, the method factor suppressed substantive relationships such that the two CCAI factors of Emotional Resilience and Personal Autonomy became significant correlates with self-reported number of international job assignments after accounting for method variance. Implications for research and practice are discussed.