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Access Type

WSU Access

Date of Award

January 2024

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Ph.D.

Department

Psychology

First Advisor

Andrew Speer

Abstract

Despite robust evidence that personality tests are capable of identifying employees who are well suited for a job (Wilmot & Ones, 2021) there are populations of people who hold negative perceptions of personality testing, particularly as they apply to hiring neurodivergent individuals (Brown, 2021; Claypool, 2021). Additionally, various calls to action suggest a need to investigate neurodivergence in organizations, starting with barriers to obtaining employment (LeFevre-Levy et al., 2023). In light of this, the purpose of this study focused on one tool often used as a selection method, personality assessments. Focusing on autistic individuals, this study aimed to understand applicant reactions to personality assessments across autistic and non-autistic and whether there were differences in psychometric properties (i.e., measurement bias, predictive bias) of personality assessments across groups when used in an applicant context. Findings suggest that autistic individuals react less favorably to the use of personality assessments, and the effect is stronger when the personality assessment is not contextualized to a work environment. Further, non-autistic and autistic individuals scored significantly different on personality measures when contextualized to the work environment.

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