News
April, 2024
The paper below was chosen as winner of the William A. Owens Scholarly Achievement Award of the Society for Industrial & Organizational Psychology (2024). This award recognizes the best publication appearing in a refereed journal in the field of I-O psychology during the previous calendar year.
Sackett, P. R., Zhang, C., Berry, C. M., & Lievens, F. (2022). Revisiting meta-analytic estimates of validity in personnel selection: Addressing systematic overcorrection for restriction of range. Journal of Applied Psychology, 107, 2040-2068.The following paper was accepted for publication in Journal of Applied Psychology.
March, 2023
The following paper was accepted for publication in Journal of Applied Psychology. This paper provides updated meta-analytic correlations across a wide range of predictors (with the addition of Situational Judgment Tests). As a key result, cognitive ability tests were no longer the primary driver of the validity-diversity trade-off.
Berry, C. M., Lievens, F., & Zhang, C., & Sackett, P. R. (in press). Insights from an updated personnel selection meta-analytic matrix: Revisiting general mental ability tests’ role in the validity-diversity tradeoff. Journal of Applied Psychology.
October, 2023
In the Fall, I will give various keynotes and invited talks related to my recent research:
University of Iowa, United States
Erasmus University Rotterdam, The Netherlands
Ghent University, Belgium
University of Valencia, Spain
NOVA Business School, Portugal
September, 2023
The following paper was accepted for publication in Journal of Applied Psychology. This paper zooms in on the interpersonal microcosmos that develops when candidates participate in interpersonal assessment exercises. We find that the principles of complementarity are consistently followed. Dominance leads to submissiveness and vice versa and (lack of) affiliation leads to (lack of) affiliation. Remote assessors do not seem to pick up these complementarity effects.
Herde, C. N., & Lievens, F. (in press). The chemistry between us: Illuminating complementarity patterns in interpersonal role play assessment via moment-to-moment analyses. Journal of Applied Psychology.
August, 2023
The paper below was the winner of the Scholarly Achievement Award of the HR Division of Academy of Management (2023). This award is given each year to recognize the author(s) of a paper identified as the most significant published article during the previous year in HR management.
Sackett, P. R., Zhang, C., Berry, C. M., & Lievens, F. (2022). Revisiting meta-analytic estimates of validity in personnel selection: Addressing systematic overcorrection for restriction of range. Journal of Applied Psychology, 107, 2040-2068.
The SIOP journal also published a focal article on this 2022 paper in Journal of Applied Psychology wherein we revisited the meta-analytic evidence regarding the most common selection and assessment procedures. The focal paper and our reply to the commentaries that followed on our focal article can be downloaded below:
Sackett, P.R., Zhang, C., Berry, C.M., & Lievens, F. (2023). Revisiting the design of selection systems in light of new findings regarding the validity of widely used predictors. Industrial and Organizational Psychology: Perspectives, 16, 283 – 300.
Sackett, P. R., Berry, C. M., Lievens, F., & Zhang, C. (2023). A reply to commentaries on “Revisiting the design of selection systems in light of new findings regarding the validity of widely used predictors” (2023). Industrial and Organizational Psychology: Perspectives, 16, 371-377.
May, 2023
The following two papers were accepted for publication in Journal of Applied Psychology. The first paper addresses the effects of information about political ideology on someone’s social media pages on cybervetting ratings about hireability, whereas the second one extends our current methods for designing Pareto-optimal selection systems to situations involving multiple criteria and multiple minority groups (i.e., multi-objective Pareto-optimal selection systems).
Mönke, F. W., Lievens, F., Hess, I., & Schäpers, P. (in press). Politics speak louder than skills: Political similarity effects in hireability judgments in multi-party contexts and the role of political interest. Journal of Applied Psychology.
De Corte, W., Sackett, P. R., & Lievens, F. (in press). Designing Pareto-optimal selection systems for multiple minority subgroups and multiple criteria. Journal of Applied Psychology.
February, 2023
The following paper was accepted for publication in Personnel Psychology. This paper reviews the current literature on personnel selection from a specific perspective. That is, how do key selection decisions (e.g., use multiple selection procedures, contextualize procedure content, provide pre-test explanations, reveal target competencies, weight predictors and criteria, use artificial intelligence) affect validity, diversity, and applicant perceptions.
Van Iddekinge, C. H., Lievens, F., & Sackett, P. R. (2023). Personnel selection: A review of ways to maximize validity, diversity, and the applicant experience. Personnel Psychology, 76, 651-686.
October, 2022
I am pleased to announce that Jomel Ng has joined my research team at SMU.
June, 2022
The following paper was accepted for publication in Journal of Applied Psychology. This paper presents the theoretical background and evidence related to multiple, speeded (“flash”) role-play simulations. It answers questions such as: Do ratings based upon such multiple, short behavioral simulations reliably assess performance? Do they reveal information about participants’ cognitive ability and personality? Do they predict job-related performance (above traditional selection procedures)? And do multiple, speeded simulations outweigh their design and implementation costs in terms of utility?
Herde, C.N., & Lievens, F. (in press). Multiple, speeded assessments under scrutiny: Underlying theory, design considerations, reliability, and validity. Journal of Applied Psychology.
March, 2022
The following paper was accepted for publication in Personnel Psychology. Drawing on behaviour personality science it provides a detailed look on the kind of behaviours that are shown in assessment center exercises. Interestingly, the structure underlying behavioural differences in interpersonal exercises was represented by four broad behavioural constructs: agency, communion, interpersonal calmness, and intellectual competence. There was also more consistency in showing these behaviours than typically found in dimension ratings in assessment centers.
Breil, S. M., Lievens, F., Forthmann, B., & Back, M. D. (in press). Interpersonal behavior in assessment center role-play exercises: Investigating structure, consistency, and effectiveness. Personnel Psychology.
The following paper was accepted for publication in Journal of Management. It provides a much needed review of one of the most elusive OB constructs, work effort. We reviewed conceptualizations of effort and provided an integrated definition that views effort as a direct outcome of motivation that captures (a) what employees work on, (b) how hard they work, and (c) how long they persist in that work. In addition, we meta-analytically tested a nomological network to gain a better understanding of effort’s antecedents and outcomes.
Van Iddekinge, C.H., Arnold, J.D., Aguinis, H., Lang, J.W.B., & Lievens, F. (in press). Work effort: A conceptual and meta-analytic review. Journal of Management.
February, 2022
I am pleased to announce that Jan Corstjens has joined my research team at SMU.
October, 2021
The following paper was accepted for publication in Journal of Applied Psychology. Importantly, it revisits our meta-analyses on the most common selection and assessment procedures. So, finally, there are more accurate (because less overcorrected) estimates of the validity of our common selection procedures. Most selection procedures that ranked high previously remain high in rank. Yet, structured interviews are now the top-ranked approach and thus remove cognitive ability from the top spot.
Sackett, P.R., Zhang, C., Berry, C.M., & Lievens, F. (in press). Revisiting meta-analytic estimates of validity in personnel selection: Addressing systematic overcorrection for restriction of range. Journal of Applied Psychology.
September, 2021
The following paper was accepted for publication in Personnel Psychology. It provides evidence that assessment center exercises can be used for observing personality-based behaviours.
Heimann, A.L., Ingold, P.V., Melchers, K., Lievens, F., Keen, G., & Kleinmann, M. (in press). Actions define a character: Assessment centers as behavior-focused personality measures. Personnel Psychology.
August, 2021
The following paper was accepted for publication in Academy of Management Annals. It provides a review of the last 20 years of research on curiosity in organisations and it aims to set the stage for the next 20 years...
Lievens, F., Harrison, S., Mussel, P., & Litman, J. (in press). Killing the cat? A review of curiosity at work. Academy of Management Annals.
July, 2021
Jan Corstjens (PhD, Ghent University, Belgium) successfully defended his PhD. I served as promotor. The title of his PhD dissertation was “A Closer Look at Contextualization in Situational Judgment Tests”.
May, 2021
The following paper was accepted for publication in Journal of Applied Psychology. This paper presents much-needed evidence for the cross-validity potential of fixed weight versus Pareto-optimal selection systems in bi-objective selection situations where both the goals of diversity and quality are valued and the importance of the goals is undetermined a priori.
De Corte, W., Sackett, P. R., & Lievens, F. (in press). A comprehensive examination of the cross-validity of Pareto-optimal vs. fixed weights selection systems in the bi-objective selection context. Journal of Applied Psychology.
April, 2021
The paper below was the winner of the Jeanneret Award for Excellence in the Study of Individual or Group Assessment of Society for Industrial & Organizational Psychology. It is the second time I win this award. This award honors work judged to have the highest potential to further the understanding of individual or group assessment, especially when such assessment supports the creation of a diverse workforce.
Lievens, F., Sackett, P. R., Dahlke, J., Oostrom, J. K., & De Soete, B. (2019). Constructed response formats and their effects on minority-majority differences and validity. Journal of Applied Psychology, 104, 715–726.
December, 2020
The following paper was accepted for publication in Journal of Applied Psychology. It delves into mechanisms underlying mid-test warnings and shows that different emotions (anger, fear, and guilt) play differential roles for fakers and non-fakers on personality tests.
Li, H., Fan, J., Zhao, G., Wang, M., Zheng, L., Meng, H., Weng, Q., Liu, Y., & Lievens, F. (in press). The role of emotions as mechanisms of mid-test warning messages during personality testing: A field experiment. Journal of Applied Psychology.
November, 2020
A study by Stanford University ranked me among the top 1% of scientists in the world in the field of Business & Management.
April, 2020
The paper below was the winner of Joyce and Robert Hogan Award for Personality and Work Performance (2020) of the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology. This award is given to a paper that was judged to to have the highest potential to further the understanding of personality as it relates to work performance, is the most prestigious honor in the field.
Lievens, F., Lang J., De Fruyt, F., Corstjens, J., Van de Vijver, M., & Bledow. R. (2018). The predictive power of people's intraindividual variability across situations: Implementing Whole Trait Theory in assessment. Journal of Applied Psychology, 103, 753-771.
March, 2020
The following paper was accepted for publication in Journal of Applied Psychology. It focuses on one of the main dilemmas in scenario-based assessments. That is, should we prompt candidate answers or not? We find evidence that this choice is critical for what one measures and predicts.
Rockstuhl, T. & Lievens, F. (2021). Prompt-specificity in scenario-based assessments: Associations with personality vs. knowledge and effects on predictive validity. Journal of Applied Psychology, 106, 122-139.
February, 2020
The following paper was accepted for publication in Journal of Applied Psychology:
Zhang, L., Van Iddekinge, C. H., Arnold, J. D., Roth, P., Lievens, F., Lanivich, S., Jordan, S. (2020). What’s on job seekers’ social media sites? A content analysis and effects of structure on recruiter judgments and predictive validity. Journal of Applied Psychology, 105, 1530—1546.
I am glad to announce that Christoph N. Herde joined my team at SMU in February 2020.
November, 2019
Christoph N. Herde (PhD, Ghent University, Belgium) successfully defended his PhD. I served as promotor. The title of his PhD dissertation was “Multiple Speed Assessment: A new approach for measuring interpersonal performance and adaptability?”
October, 2019
The following paper was accepted for publication in Journal of Applied Psychology. This paper adds knowledge to the ongoing debate about the role of situation descriptions in SJTs. As an overall conclusion, the studies provide further evidence that common SJTs may not be as context-dependent as previously assumed.
Schäpers, P., Mussel, P., Lievens, F., König, C. J., Freudenstein, J.-P., & Krumm, S. (2019). The role of situations in situational judgment tests: Effects on construct saturation, predictive validity, and applicant perceptions. Journal of Applied Psychology, e-pub ahead of print.
This was the first paper, I published with Philipp Schäpers since Philipp joined my team at SMU.
September, 2018
The following three papers were accepted for publication in Journal of Applied Psychology:
The first study demonstrates that open-ended (constructed response) formats permit to reduce minority-majority differences, while they still leads to good predictions. It is also one of the sole studies in an immigrant population.
Lievens, F., Sackett, P. R., Dahlke, J., Oostrom, J. K., & De Soete, B. (2019). Constructed response formats and their effects on minority-majority differences and validity. Journal of Applied Psychology, 104, 715–726.
The following study deals with the role of snap judgments in the assessment process: Snap or trap?
Ingold, P. V., Dönni, M., & Lievens, F. (2018). A dual‐process theory perspective to better understand judgments in assessment centers: The role of initial impressions for dimension ratings and validity. Journal of Applied Psychology, 103, 1367– 1378.
This last study highlights the importance of assessing how people adapt their behavioral responses to situations for predicting job performance. It sheds a new light on how to capture and measure adaptability.
Lievens, F., Lang J., De Fruyt, F., Corstjens, J., Van de Vijver, M., & Bledow. R. (2018). The predictive power of people's intraindividual variability across situations: Implementing Whole Trait Theory in assessment. Journal of Applied Psychology, 103, 753-771.
I am glad to announce that Philipp Schäpers joined my team at SMU in September 2018.
January, 2018
I started working at Singapore Management University as Lee Kong Chian Professor of Human Resources in the Lee Kong Chian School of Business. I remain a Visiting Professor at Ghent University for the next three years.
June, 2017
I was the winner of the Hogrefe EAPA Award for Distinguished Scientific or Professional Contributions to Psychological Assessment. I therefore presented my research on modular selection procedures at the European Association of Psychological Assessment conference In Lisbon on July 5.
May, 2017
My paper, entitled "Assessing Personality-Situation Interplay in Personnel Selection: Towards More Integration into Personality Research" was accepted for publication as a focal article in European Journal of Personality. Over 30 commentaries on this focal article are under way and will be published in the European Journal of Personality, together with a rejoinder.
February, 2017
The following two papers were published in Journal of Applied Psychology:
As the title suggests, this overview article summarizes 100 years of research on individual differences, including personality, cognitive ability, values, motivation, interests, etc.
Sackett, P.R., Lievens, F., Van Iddekinge, C., & Kuncel, N. (2017). Individual differences and their measurement: A review of 100 years of research. Journal of Applied Psychology, 102, 254-273.
This paper presents a modular approach to personnel selection. In a modular approach, selection procedures are broken down into smaller components (aka building blocks). Examples of such building blocks are stimulus format, response format, scoring format or instructions. This conceptual paper discusses the scientific and practical merits of such a modular approach.
Lievens, F., & Sackett, P.R. (2017). The effects of predictor method factors on selection outcomes: A modular approach to personnel selection procedures. Journal of Applied Psychology, 102, 43-66.
In the past months, I gave various keynotes and invited talks related to this paper:
Somerset West, South Africa: Annual Conference of the Assessment Centre Study Group (April, 2017).
Liverpool, UK: Annual Conference of the British Psychological Society, Division of Occupational Psychology (January, 2017).
Hefei, China: Invited Paper Series at School of Management (December, 2016)
Delhi, India: Annual International Military Testing Association Conference (November, 2016).
Bali, Indonesia: International Congress on Assessment Center Methods, Nusa Dua, Bali, Indonesia (October, 2016).
Munich, Germany: Colloquium at Technical University Munich (October, 2016)
Bowling Green (OH, USA): Brown Bag at I/O Psychology Department (September, 2016)
August, 2016
The following article was the winner of Dorothy Harlow Best Paper Award of Academy of Management (2016, Gender & Diversity in Organizations Division):
Windscheid, L., Bowes-Sperry, L., Kidder, D., Cheung, H.K., Morner, M., & Lievens, F. (2016). Actions speak louder than words: Perceptions of diversity mixed messages. Journal of Applied Psychology, 101, 1329-1241.
