The judgment accuracy of assessors has been an enduring research topic in personnel selection studies. Assessors produce ratings that affect the quality of personnel selection decisions. Although it is well known that assessors differ in judgment accuracy, we do not yet understand why this is so. This dissertation drew on social cognition literature and judgment accuracy models (Funder, 1999) to study assessor constructs that may predict their judgment accuracy in personnel selection. In order to advance contemporary practices designed to select and train assessors, an integrative profile of the ‘good judge’, informed by empirical evidence, is needed.

The dissertation therefore presents four studies – one systematic review and three empirical studies – that investigated individual difference constructs in judgment accuracy within a personnel selection context. First, a systematic review of empirical literature was conducted, which, in addition to determining what we know and do not know about the good judge, identified focal constructs for further empirical research. In the subsequent empirical investigations, the role of specific individual difference constructs in judgment accuracy was explored. The dissertation advances an understanding of how dispositional reasoning (the complex knowledge of traits, behaviors, and situations’ potential to elicit traits into manifest behaviors) and personality trait chronic accessibility (the degree to which individuals differ in the readiness with which constructs are utilized in information processing of behavioral stimulus input) may be characteristics of the good judge in personnel selection. The general project goal was to determine the extent to which assessor individual differences are able to explain judgment accuracy in personnel selection ratings.

M.Ph. Born (Marise) , F. Lievens (Filip)
Erasmus University Rotterdam
The research presented in this dissertation was supported in part by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, National Research Fund (NRF), University of Cape Town Research Office, Police Academy of the South African Police Services, Military Psychological Institute of the South African Military Health Services, and the University of Stellenbosch.
hdl.handle.net/1765/79493
Department of Industrial and Organizational Psychology

de Kock, F. (2015, December 17). Individual Differences in Judgment Accuracy in Personnel Selection: What Makes the 'Good Judge'?. Retrieved from http://hdl.handle.net/1765/79493