Swipe right on personality: a mobile response latency measure
Journal of Managerial Psychology
ISSN: 0268-3946
Article publication date: 18 February 2020
Issue publication date: 19 August 2020
Abstract
Purpose
While high-stakes mobile assessment is increasing, researchers have done little to adapt traditional assessments to this new medium. The present study developed and tested a new response method for personality assessment using a mobile-first gamification design paradigm.
Design/methodology/approach
Participants used smartphones to “swipe” right or left to indicate agreement or disagreement with Goldberg's (1992) Big Five adjective indicators. These scores were correlated with responses to a Likert-type measure and participants provided reactions to both measures.
Findings
Each of the swipe-based measures was found to be a reliable and valid predictor of the corresponding dimensions measured using the Likert-type scale. Reactions to the swipe measure were mixed when compared to a traditional Likert-type measure. Response latencies of swipes were used as an indicator of self-schema beliefs. Transformed latency scores contributed incremental variance to the prediction of Likert responses beyond the dichotomous responses alone for some personality dimensions.
Research limitations/implications
Convergent validity between the two measures was likely attenuated due to differences in scales, response methods, devices, connection speeds, and social desirability effects indicating that the present results may constitute a lower-bound estimate of convergent validity between the two measurement styles.
Practical implications
Designing assessments for mobile administration requires balancing trade-offs in speed, ease of use, and number of items relative to the reliability and validity of the measures.
Originality/value
Mobile-first designs such as swipe-based responses show potential to enhance future mobile assessment practices with further development.
Keywords
Citation
Weidner, N.W. and Landers, R.N. (2020), "Swipe right on personality: a mobile response latency measure", Journal of Managerial Psychology, Vol. 35 No. 4, pp. 209-223. https://doi.org/10.1108/JMP-07-2018-0330
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2020, Emerald Publishing Limited