Is Personality Related to Assessment Center Performance? That Depends on How Old You Are
Previous research has generally found that assessment center performance and measures of personality are largely unrelated. These findings have prompted researchers and practitioners alike to conclude that assessment centers and personality questionnaires generally measure individual differences that are independent and therefore complimentary in the overall assessment of managerial potential. Thus, the addition of personality data to assessment center results provides unique information to the assessment of a manager. We provide some new data from a managerial assessment center in the forestry products industry in which age moderates the relations between traditional assessment center behavioral data and certain measures of personality. Assessment center data and personality measures were generally found to be moderately related, but the magnitude of these relations increased substantially for older participants. Implications for assessment center operations and validation efforts will be discussed.
Speaker
Mitch Rothstein, Ph.D.
Director, Ph.D. Program
Richard Ivey School of Business
University of Western Ontario
Mitch Rothstein, Ph.D, of London, Canada, is a professor at the Richard Ivey School of Business where he teaches leadership development and organizational change in MBA, Executive MBA, and Executive Development programs. He has over 20 years experience consulting to private and public sector organizations regarding management and organizational development interventions. He has published over 30 articles in the areas of the use of psychological assessments in personnel selection, and various aspects of career development. He is currently the Ph.D. Program Director at the Ivey Business School but continues his teaching, research, and consulting activities.
