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The purpose of this paper is to develop and test a measure designed to assess constructs that predict ethical decision making (EDM) among employees.

The approach was to target individual difference variables that are theoretically linked to EDM. This was done by generating biodata items/scales of the constructs of interest.

Two biodata scales were developed to measure locus of control and conscientiousness. Both of these scales had significant criterion‐related validities with EDM (rs=0.42 and 0.40, respectively) and predicted significant and unique variance of EDM beyond the variance predicted by trait‐based measures of the same constructs. Biodata scales exhibited little or no subgroup differences (less potential adverse impact). Research limitations/implications – Participants were working various jobs and a variety of settings, so results generalize to this eclectic population more so than one particular industry. Further research should attempt to examine effects in a specific applied setting.

This study outlines a method of item and scale development that produces homogonous scales that predict EDM and that can be tailored for specific organizational use.

The paper provides a theoretical rationale for why biodata methodology is superior to trait‐based measures and practical value for the use of biodata in measuring individual difference constructs.

This chapter provides a contemporary view of state-of-the science research and thinking done in the areas of selection and classification. It takes as a starting point the observation that the world of work is undergoing important changes that are likely to result in different occupational and organizational structures. In this context, we review recent research on criteria, especially models of job performance, followed by sections on predictors, including ability, personality, vocational interests, biodata, and situational judgment tests. The paper also discusses person-organization fit models, as alternatives or complements to the traditional person-job fit paradigm.

Examines the use of two selection techniques, i.e. biodata and personality assessment, which have been found to have high predictive validities when used in other industries, in the context of hotel employee recruitment. In the first phase of a pilot study, Saville and Holdsworth′s Customer Service Questionnaire (CSQ) was used together with a questionnaire designed specifically to collect biodata (biographical information). The research was carried out at a four‐star hotel in central Manchester, with the aim of identifying any characteristics which were common to those hotel operatives who frequently interacted with guests, who were reliable and who produced a high standard of work consistently, so that a specific selection tool which isolated these characteristics might be developed.

This chapter proposes the development of a compound personality trait termed “goal propensity”. Motivation is a key determinant of performance in virtually all contexts, and personality has long been viewed as an important influence on motivation. Despite the long history of exploring how personality influences motivation, we do not have a clear understanding of the linkage between individual differences in personality and work motivation or the tools to reliably and accurately predict individual differences in motivation. Advances in our understanding of personality and the convergence of motivation theories around models of self-regulation present the opportunity to achieve that understanding and predictive efficacy. Goal propensity would be a theoretically derived trait that would explain the role of personality in self-regulation models of motivation as well as allow the prediction of tendencies to engage in self-regulation. This chapter provides the rationale for the development of this construct, articulates the nature of the proposed goal propensity construct, and explores the value of such a construct for theory, future research, and human resource practice.

The purpose of this paper is to test the feasibility of using a biodata inventory to measure service‐orientation – one's disposition to be helpful, thoughtful, considerate, and cooperative – across cultures in a sample of 1,324 owners of businesses.

Subjects in Austria, The Czech Republic, Hungary, Latvia, Slovakia, and Slovenia are given the inventory in order to predict their on‐the‐job service‐oriented performance.

Within the samples, the service‐orientation ratings are highly correlated with extroversion and openness to experience in all six countries, and agreeableness in five countries and conscientiousness in four countries. The correlations of these scales with service‐orientation are as high as or higher than those generally obtained with measures of service‐orientation with customer service representatives.

The analysis lends credence to the notion that service‐orientation may be effectively measured by biodata within small organizations across multiple cultures.

This paper examines the utility of a personality‐oriented biodata inventory for explaining levels of customer service‐oriented performance across six countries. Little cross‐country research has been done on the owners of business thus this paper helps to fill in gaps in the literature dealing with business owners and the importance of personality attributes to explain service‐oriented performance.

Brings together the main findings of a pilot study which aims to improve operational front‐of‐house employee selection in a large international company‐owned hotel group. The study involves the development and testing of a method for scoring applicants for operational front‐of‐house positions using biodata based on their interpersonal skills and their job flexibility. The data were collected at a medium‐sized city centre hotel in the United Kingdom staffed with 112 employees, 73 of whom participated in the study.

The importance of selection in the accounting environment is of particular relevance as accounting is a service function which relies heavily on human resources, and its future depends on its ability to attract, train and retain the best and most capable people. A graduate entrant into a professional accountancy office constitutes a major investment involving substantial outlay to cover the costs of recruitment, training and replacement. The external training cost is easy to quantify; however the quantification of the opportunity cost is more difficult. Both these costs rise if the graduate fails to proceed through the examination system without resits or fails to qualify altogether, resulting in a human capital loss for the firm and a personal loss for the candidate. Analyses and discusses the results of a survey into the selection techniques of professional accountancy firms which are training students under the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland System. Centres on the need for and method of pre‐selection, together with selection techniques and their relative success. Concludes that adopting statistical procedures to process biodata for subsequent candidate performance will have ramifications for the firms, the trainees and the profession as a whole.

Most managers would agree that the calibre of an organisation′s employees is vital to its business success. However, to many managers, selection is a headache: job descriptions have to be written, advertisements placed, a shortlist of candidates agreed, assessments of candidates carried out, and a final decision reached. The process is time‐consuming, costly and an unwanted interruption of critical business activities. Throughout the 1980s, many advances have been made in personnel selection by occupational psychologists in the US, Canada and Europe. Unfortunately, the substantial developments have not been taken up by many practising managers in Britain. This article attempts to review and summarise the critical trends and themes in the advances in systematic staff selection over recent years.