Abstract

This study was aimed at developing and validating a personality scale for job selection in organizations (PS-JSO). The research also determined differential subscales functioning with respect to gender, religion and ethnicity.

The researcher made use of the instrumentation research design reasons for which a new instrument was developed to determine prospective employees’ personality traits. Geographically, the study was carried out in five organizations in the North West region of Cameroon. The population of the study comprised of 51 human resource personnel in the five organizations.

The purposive and snowball (network/chain) sampling technique was employed in selecting 25 human resource personnel who formed the sample of the study. The researcher purposively selected at least one human resource personnel in each of the organizations who then recruited other colleagues for the study (snowball sampling).

The instrument used for this research work was a personality scale for job selection in organizations (PS-JSO) developed by the researcher for the collection of quantitative data pertaining to personality traits. A pool of 75 potential statements was initially written by the researcher, each with six levels of response option consistent with the established likert scale format. For each of the constructs, 15 items were designed. Initial validation of the instrument by expert judgment using the content validity index witnessed 13 items dropped.

Therefore 62 items survived the expert judgment. Finally, 54 items were retained from factor analysis which constituted the PS-JSO scale. Convergent, discriminant and reliability indices were used as evidence for construct validity of the scale. Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (KMO) measure of sampling adequacy and Bartlett’s test of sphericity were used to determine the factorability of the dataset.

To determine the number of factors to extract a combination of five criteria were used: (a) the a priori hypothesis that the instrument consisted of six factors, (b) eigenvalue-greater-than-one, (c) the scree test, (d) the parallel analysis (PA), and (e) the interpretability of the factor solution. Principle Component Analysis (PCA) with varimax(orthogonal) rotation was employed to identify the factors that most efficiently explained variation in the sample dataset.

A minimum criterion of 0.40 was used for factor retention and 0.10 for cross loading. Using one way multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) a significant mean difference was witnessed between the subscales and gender, religion and ethnicity.

The finding revealed a 6factor refined model of the PS-JSO made up of 54 items. PS-JSO provides human resource managers and organizational psychologist with an easy-to-administer and straightforwardly interpreted instrument that helps them collect information about personality traits in the job selection process.

The human resource managers and organizational psychologists should use the PS-JSO to get the right number of people with the right personality, experience and competencies in the right jobs at the right time and at the right cost. The researcher suggested that a study be carried out on the development and validation of a personality scale for job placement in organizations in Cameroon.

CHAPTER ONE

GENERAL INTRODUCTION

Introduction

The cultivation of high-order thinking skills in general and divergent thinking abilities in particular are recognized as one of the most important goals of organizations which are personality dependent, (Robinson, 2007; Chien, 2010; Craig 2001).

In a world that experiences rapid transformation; creative problem solving skills are viewed as the essential all-time ability needed to effectively address unforeseen challenges that demand innovative solutions in organizational settings (Duch 2001; Osborn and Mumford, 2006; Shefield 2011; and Tan, 2010).

Accordingly, calls by human resource experts to focus organizational efforts on personality traits such as creativity, innovativeness, hard work and integrity as key ingredients in organizational success have intensified over the years. (Josu and Dion, 2008; Kimani, 2008; Mangena, 2007; Maseau, 2008; and Ogot, 2007).

Organization needs to succeed and survive, or compete effectively in the global economy in this era of globalization. Therefore, employers must be in the position to propound and practice the selection of employees in the best way.

Merris (2008) and Sahlberg (2009) postulate that the success of an organization is directly linked to the performance of those who work in it. Underachievement can be as a result of poor selection measure which leads to workplace failures. Every organization has its own requirement strategies in acquiring employees.

It is thus vital that organizations select employees with the quality essential for continued success in this competitive global village. One important means of achieving success is through proper selection practices.

One of the most significant developments in the field of organizations Psychology in recent times is the increasing importance given to human resource (Djabatey 2012).

People are vital to organizations as they offer perspectives, values and attributes to organizational life, and when selected effectively, these human traits can be of considerable benefits to the organization. Mullins (1999) and Djabatey (2012) contend that continues growth of an organization depends on its ability to recruit and select high quality personnel at all levels.

While recruitment is the process of identifying and attracting potential candidates from within and outside an organization to begin evaluating them for future employment, selection begins when the right calibre of candidates are identified (Walker, 2009).

The primary goal of scale development is to create a valid measure of an underlying construct. It is essential to commence with a clear conceptualization of the target construct, the content of the initial factor pool in the scale should be over inclusive and factor wording needs careful attention, (Clark and Watson, 2014).

Factor pool should be tested, along with variables that assess closely related constructs on a heterogeneous sample representing the entire range of the target population. In the selection of scale factors, the goal is unidimensionality therefore, virtually all inter factor correlations should at least be moderate in magnitude. Factor analysis play a crucial role in ensuring the unidimensionality of scales.

 However, most recruitment and selection processes have elements of subjective judgement inherent in them. But treating job applicants in a professional and positive manner is more likely to leave them, whether they are successful or not, with a positive view of the organization and how it has dealt with the applicants (National University of Ireland, 2006).

Experience also shows that a successful appointment can produce results which impact favorably on the wider aspects of organizational life while a poor one can have damaging effects far outside the organization in which it is made.

However, the recruitment and selection of employees also provides an opportunity for the organization to present itself in a favourable light. This chapter will therefore shade light on; background of the Study, statement of the Problem, objectives of the Study, research questions, hypothesis, justification of the Study, significance of the study, scope of the Study and operational definition of terms

Statement of the Problem

The fields of industrial and organizational psychology, engineering, and management merged to deliver a practical application of psychological testing to organizational problems, but not all forms of psychological testing enjoyed the same level of acceptance.

While cognitive ability testing became broadly established and gained rather wide public acceptance, other types of testing, most notably personality testing, did not. The validity of cognitive ability tests for predicting job skill acquisition and performance has been widely established, and has its economic value in organizations through the selection of superior job candidates. However, the potential success of cognitive ability testing has been tempered by the universally recognized fact that these types of tests tend to discriminate against some minority groups.

Personality tests by contrast have not traditionally enjoyed the same level of acceptance and their use in employment selection is much more controversial. Information gotten by the researcher stipulated that many organizations do not use personality test because their human resource personnel think the psychometric properties lack credibility, the inability of the test to reveal applicants personality traits.

However, many of such problems in personality testing originated with historical controversies over how personality is defined, how personality traits are described and measured, and how traits relate to behavior. Prior to the development of the five factor model general agreement on these questions were lacking.

Growing interest in I/O psychology has therefore spurred the human resource department in organizations to adopt best practices in the recruitment and selection of employees. This is in a bit to attract the best quality so as gain competitive advantage in the global market where organizations are constantly in search of best practices.

Organizations nowadays haven seen the inevitability of personality testing in revealing applicants’ traits are in dying need of such tests which are contextually applicable and sustainable. The success of organizations in this era depends on the calibre of the manpower that steers the day to day affairs of the organizations.

The process of using valid and reliable tests in selecting all categories of employees in organizations is now gaining grounds more than ever before due to the caliber of man power selected by the organizations that have been using these tests.

Even though it is the wish of every organization to attract the best human resource in order to channel their collective effort into excellent performances, unconventional selection practices mars the process. Managing people is a definite challenge both at strategic or even organizational levels, therefore, the Job selection phase in every organization is of prime importance because it sets the final stage for whom to be selected.

The HRD has as duty to eliminate prejudices of all sorts and focus on hiring workers whose input will be instrumental in gaining competitive advantage and achieving organizational goals. The choice of a well-developed and validated instruments primordial an indispensable in achieving this goal.

The researcher haven developed an overwhelming interest in the recruitment and selection practices in organizations, probed into how workers are hired in organizations. Based on available literature on recruitment and selection practices and interviews with many human resource managers, the researcher discovered that personality selection practices in organization have be limited to unconventional methods like family and friendly ties and job interviews which lacks the capability to completely reveal applicants personality traits.

Against this backdrop, the researcher sought to develop and validate a personality scale for job selection in organizations taking into consideration how sex, religion and ethnicity function differently with the personality subscales.

Research Objectives

Generally, this research work was aimed at developing and validating a personality scale for job selection in organizations (PS-JSO).

Specifically, the study purported to:

1. Identify personality factors/constructs for job selection in organizations.
2. construct and validate items to measure personality factors/constructs.
3. Determine the differential functioning of the personality subscales with respect to gender, religion and ethnicity.

Research questions

Generally, the researcher sought to find outhowa personality scale for job selection in organizations can be developed and validated?

This research was grounded by the following specific research questions.

1. What are the personality factors/constructs for job selection in organizations?
2. How can items be constructed and validated to measure personality factors/constructs?
3. To what extend can personality subscales function differently with respect to gender, religion and ethnicity?

Research Hypotheses

The following research hypothesis guided the study;

General hypothesis

Ha: The development and validation of personality scale is used significantly for jobs election in organizations.

Ho: The development and validation of personality scale is not used significantly for job selection in organizations.

Specific Hypothesis

Ha: The personality subscales for job selection differ significant with respect to gender, religion and ethnicity

Ho: The personality subscales for job selection does not differ significant with respect to gender, religion and ethnicity