Research update: From item context to signaling theory and more

Here are some research articles from the last couple months:

Grand et al.'s study showed that adding a job-relevant context to test items--even under explicit stereotype threat--had either beneficial or no effects on test performance and test perceptions among female test takers. More evidence of the benefit of tailoring items to the particular position being tested for.

Impression management during assessments is often considered to be a negative thing--i.e., a source of error. But as Kleinmann and Klehe point out in their study of interviewee behavior, it may be an additional source of validity, and can be related to performance. At the very least it indicates that the person knows enough to alter their behavior to fit the job!

Celani and Singh provide a literature review of the role of signaling theory in applicant attraction (making inferences about important aspects of the job/organization from characteristics of the recruitment) and how social identity interacts to impacts attraction outcomes.

Last but not least, Soto et al. with a fascinating study of age and personality characteristics. Over a million individuals participated over the web, and the authors highlight several key results, such as late childhood/early adolescence being key periods for age trends, strong maturity and adjustment trends over adulthood, and the importance of looking at facet-level results.