ABSTRACT
Over the past 50 years, the use of personality testing in employee selection has not come under the same type of legal scrutiny as other more cognitive-based tests. However, there have been a number of U.S. court cases concerning personality testing. In addition, and probably just as important, the popular press has propagated the opinion that negative applicant perceptions and complaints regarding personality testing are fairly common, whether this is true or not. In this chapter, we will first provide evidence of employer usage of personality tests in employee selection, employer experience with legal claims and applicant complaints, and practitioner views on the use and legality of personality tests. Then, we will discuss relevant U.S. employment law and past cases regarding personality testing, summarizing potential legal issues surrounding personality tests and the validation of these tests. This is followed by discussions of applicant reactions to personality testing for hiring purposes and other issues that may be related to complaints about such testing. We conclude that, although the use of personality testing in employee selection has not faced intense legal inquiry, there are certainly issues that the practitioner should consider before using these tools, in addition to research that should be conducted to advance the legal and effective use of these tools in practice.
