Self-presentation in personnel selection from the perspective of applicants and organizations

长期以来，求职者积极的自我展示一直被视为选人方面的一个严重问题。因此，有时会放弃使用易受这种倾向影响的选拔工具(如个性测试)。然而，没有一致的经验证据表明，对积极自我呈现的敏感性确实系统性地损害了选择工具的预测有效性。本提案的作者最近提出了一种理论，试图解释这一明显的矛盾(Marcus，2009)。在这一理论中，自我展示的成功(就获得工作机会而言)被描述为一系列复杂的应聘者技能和动机特征的结果，以及所使用的遴选工具的特性的结果。这些变量对预测效度的影响部分是积极的，部分是消极的，因此这些影响可以相互补偿，甚至可能出现积极的净影响。在本研究中，概述了一系列的实证研究，旨在检验该理论的命题，并得出改进人事选拔的实际解决方案。首先要在有工作经验的学生的模拟选拔环境中建立假设效应。随后，将审查调查结果在多大程度上适用于实地的实际选择环境。如果从该理论得出的假设得到证实，这一建议可能会导致人们对求职者自我陈述的普遍看法发生典型性转变。也就是说，在选拔人员时，自我介绍可能被视为一种潜在资源，而不是一种威胁。

Positive self-presentation of job applicants has long been viewed as a serious problem in personnel selection. As a consequence, use of selection instruments susceptible to such tendencies (e.g., personality tests) has sometimes been abandoned. However, there is no consistent empirical evidence that susceptibility to positive self-presentation does systematically impair the predictive validity of selection instruments. The author of the present proposal recently presented a theory attempting to explain this apparent contradiction (Marcus, 2009). In this theory, the success of self-presentation (in terms of receiving a job offer) is described as an outcome of a complex set of applicants' skills and motivational characteristics, and of properties of the selection instrumentsemployed. These variables affect predictive validity in part positively and in part negatively, such that effects can compensate for each other and even positive net effects may emerge. In the present research, a series of empirical studies are outlined, which are aimed at testing propositions of the theory and at deriving practical solutions that improve personnel selection. Hypothesized effects are to be established first in simulated selection settings with job-experienced students. Subsequently, it will be examined to what extent findings generalize to actual selection settings in the field. In case hypotheses derived from the theory could be confirmed, this proposal may lead to a paradigmatic shift in the way self-presentation of job applicants is generally viewed. Namely, self-presentation may then be regarded as a potential resource, rather than a threat, in personnel selection.