Recruitment and Selection in the Public and Nonprofi t Sectors 203over time, they may have become more profi cient in performing the jobs,
and hence they might perform better on the exam than applicants. Or
they may perform worse: because they are already employed, they may
not care about performing well, or they may even resent having to spend
the time taking the test.
Concurrent validity studies are conducted more frequently than pre-
dictive validity studies because they take less time to administer and are less
costly to develop. Also, research shows that their results tend to be compa-
rable to predictive validity studies (Barrett, Phillips, & Alexander, 1981).
Criterion validity studies are used more frequently at the federal or
state levels, where large samples can be obtained. At the local level, they
are conducted for public safety positions (police and fi re), for which hun-
dreds or thousands of applicants are available. They may also be used for
positions for which large numbers of people are hired and then sent for
specifi c training, such as to the police or fi re academy or to receive special-
ized training to become Internal Revenue Service agents. The employer is
relying on the test to screen in applicants with the cognitive skills likely to
be successful in training.Construct Validity Construct validity is the most theoretical type of
validity. Selection instruments are developed or used that measure hypoth-
esized constructs or traits related to successful job performance. Constructs
are intangible or abstract characteristics that vary in individuals — for exam-
ple, intelligence, motivation, aggressiveness, anxiety, honesty, initiative, and
creativity. To validate exams designed to measure constructs requires exper-
tise in psychometrics. The existence of personality or character traits that are
often abstract and intangible is diffi cult to establish through a job analysis.
The burden is on the employer to prove empirically that the test is valid for
the job for which it is being used. Organizations that are considering adopt-
ing a test to measure constructs should seek advice from a qualifi ed person
(not the test vendor).Person - Organization Fit
Historically, most of the research on testing and selection has focused on
the ability of cognitive ability tests to predict success on a particular job.
Recent scholarship has recognized that performance in an organization is
infl uenced by more than cognitive ability. People differ in terms of per-
sonality, interpersonal relations, vocational interests, values, orientations,
motivations, and perceptions. Each of those individual difference variables
affects behavior in organizations (Zedeck, 1996).