Effects of Response Instructions on Faking a Situational Judgment Test

• Published in: International journal of selection and assessment Vol. 13; no. 4; pp. 250 - 260
• Main Authors: Nguyen, Nhung T., Biderman, Michael D., McDaniel, Michael A.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford, UK Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01.12.2005
• Subjects: Applicants; Employee testing; Judgment; Personnel selection; Preemployment screening
• ISSN: 0965-075X; 1468-2389
• DOI: 10.1111/j.1468-2389.2005.00322.x

A situational judgment test (SJT) and a Big 5 personality test were administered to 203 participants under instructions to respond honestly and to fake good using a within‐subjects design. Participants indicated both the best and worst response (i.e., Knowledge) and the most likely and least likely response (i.e., Behavioral Tendency) to each situation. Faking effect size for the SJT Behavioral Tendency response format was (d=.34) when participants responded first under honest instructions and (d=.15) when they responded first under faking instructions. Those for the Big 5 dimensions ranged from d=.26 to d=1.0. For the Knowledge response format results were inconsistent. Honest condition Knowledge SJT scores were more highly correlated with cognitive ability (r=.56) than were Behavioral Tendency SJT scores (r=.38). Implications for researchers and practitioners are discussed.