Using pre-test explanations to improve test-taker reactions: Testing a set of “wise” interventions

Julie M. McCarthy, Talya N. Bauer, Donald M. Truxillo, Michael C. Campion, Chad H. Van Iddekinge and Michael A. Campion

Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 2017, vol. 141, issue C, 43-56

Abstract: The present research tested a set of “wise” interventions (Walton, 2014) designed to improve employee reactions to assessment tests. Drawing upon theories of test-taking reactions, fairness, and social exchange, we generated and pilot-tested pre-test explanations to facilitate positive reactions to the assessments. Across two experimental studies of working adults, we tested a control condition and four experimental groups: (1) an informational fairness condition, (2) a social fairness condition, (3) an uncertainty reduction condition, and (4) a combined condition. In the first study, 256 retail employees were randomly assigned to one of the pre-test explanation conditions before completing a work sample test. Findings indicated higher perceptions of fairness for test-takers in the combined explanation group. In addition, the effects of the test explanations depended upon two contextual variables: test-takers’ level of perceived organizational support and the quality of leader-member exchange relationships with their supervisors. In the second study, the mechanisms underlying pre-test explanations were examined using an online sample of 269 working adults. Consistent with our conceptual framework, findings demonstrated that pre-test explanations had direct effects on transparency, respect, and reassurance. Taken together, these findings have implications for understanding the effects of pre-test explanations in organizational settings as well as the boundary conditions for their use.

Keywords: Test-taking attitudes; Test-taker reactions; Fairness; Explanations; Personnel selection; Wise interventions; Leader-member exchange; Perceived organizational support (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:jobhdp:v:141:y:2017:i:c:p:43-56

DOI: 10.1016/j.obhdp.2017.04.002

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