Social Desirability Corrections in Personality Measurement Issues of Applicant Comparison and Construct Validity

• Published in: Journal of applied psychology Vol. 84; no. 2; pp. 155 - 166
• Main Authors: Ellingson, Jill E, Sackett, Paul R, Hough, Leaetta M
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Washington, DC American Psychological Association 01.04.1999; American Psychological Association, etc
• Subjects: Biological and medical sciences; Conformism; Construct Validity; Correction; Deception; Employers; Faking; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Human; Job Applicants; Male; Military Personnel; Occupational psychology; Orientation. Selection. Evaluation; Personality; Personality Measures; Personality tests; Psychological tests; Psychology; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychology. Psychophysiology; Psychometrics; Recruitment; Social Desirability; Social psychology; Statistical Validity; Studies; Validation studies; Validity; Human; Test validation; Construct validity; Occupational selection; Personality test; Response falsification; Hiring; Psychometrics; Social desirability
• ISSN: 0021-9010; 1939-1854
• DOI: 10.1037/0021-9010.84.2.155

Research investigating the validity of personality measures has established these measures as useful selection tools. However, personality measures are vulnerable to response distortion leading to employer concerns about the influence of applicant faking, with specific concerns about the influence of social desirability. A traditional method used to circumvent this is the application of a correction based on a social desirability scale score. This study sought to evaluate whether such corrections are effective tools for removing the influence of intentional distortion. A within-subjects design facilitated comparisons between honest, faked, and corrected scores. The goal was to evaluate whether a social desirability correction allows one to approximate an individual's honest score. The results suggest that a social desirability correction is ineffective and fails to produce a corrected score that approximates an honest score. Results are interpreted with respect to applicant comparison and construct validity.