Integrity Tests and Other Criterion-Focused Occupational Personality Scales (COPS) Used in Personnel Selection

This article focuses on personality measures constructed for prediction of individual differences in particular work behaviors of interest (e.g., violence at work, employee theft, customer service). These scales can generically be referred to as criterion-focused occupational personality scales (COPS). Examples include integrity tests (which aim to predict dishonest behaviors at work), violence scales (which aim to predict violent behaviors at work), drug and alcohol avoidance scales (which aim to predict substance abuse at work), stress tolerance scales (which aim to predict handling work pressures well) and customer service scales (which aim to predict serving customers well). We first review the criterion-related validity, construct validity and incremental validity evidence for integrity tests, violence scales, stress tolerance scales, and customer service scales. Specifically, validities for counterproductive work behaviors and overall job performance are summarized as well as relations with the Big Five personality scales (conscientiousness, emotional stability, openness to experience, agreeableness and extraversion). Second, we compare the usefulness of COPS with traditional, general purpose, adult personality scales. We also highlight the theoretical and practical implications of these comparisons and suggest a research agenda in this area.