Page 50 - Special Topic Session (STS) - Volume 4

STS560 James Houran et al.

Using covert response biases in psychometric
assessments to bolster job candidate interviews:

an example with hospitality roles
1
3
2
James Houran , Bruce Tracey , and Rense Lange

Abstract
Psychometric testing and structured behavioural interviews are two best-
practice approaches to pre-employment screening and selection. However, an
ongoing challenge has been to maximize their effectiveness by empirically and
procedurally aligning the two tactics to work together as a cohesive process.
New generation applications of Modern Test Theory offer one viable solution
to this problem. Using the example of the proprietary 20|20 Skills™ assessment
that was designed specifically for service-hospitality industries, this paper
shows how psychometric assessments can be designed to yield Human
Resources data that transcend mere raw-scores to provide “hidden”
information about job candidates’ likely areas of strengths or weaknesses
related to Execution, People, and Cognitive Skills. This information follows
from covert response biases (i.e., IRT residuals) that candidates exhibit to
assessment items, which subsequently can be utilized to frame and guide
structured behavioural interviews. Candidates are unaware of such statistical
outcomes in assessment reports, thereby providing an extra level of test
security that job-seekers cannot readily anticipate or “game.” This improved
approach is innovative in that it essentially tailors structured behavioural
interviews to individual job candidates, while maintaining consistency and
legal-defensibility in its general framework and process.

Keywords
profiling; psychometric testing; rasch scaling; employee selection; behavioural
interviewing

1. Introduction
Although there is no fail-proof method for evaluating applicants or
incumbents in recruitment or promotion contexts, Human Resources (HR)
professionals have long recommended that organizations implement a
triangulated system of checks-and-balances to gather and evaluate candidate
information related to technical competencies, role fit, and compatibility with

1 AETHOS Consulting Group, Dallas, Texas and corresponding author:
jameshouran@eathos.com)
2 School of Hotel Administration, SC Johnson College of Business, Cornell University, Ithaca,
New York
3 Global Psytech, Selangor, Malaysia, and Lab. for Statistics and Computation, ISLA, Vila Nova
de Gaia.
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