About this Research Topic
In the war for attracting talent, HR professionals and practitioners are being encouraged to use psychological assessments as a basis for identifying high potential candidates or developing existing employees into top performers. As a result, employers became more demanding. Candidates are being asked to provide more and more information, time, and resources as a part of the application process, representing a large up-front commitment.
The goal of this Research Topic is to explore the psychological impact of assessments in recruitment and development scenarios. Whereas previous research has looked at the ability of assessments to predict future outcomes of an individual, this topic will instead focus on the other side of this problem: on the experience of the individual taking the assessment, both during the assessment as well as afterward.
A primary aim will be to collate the latest research on the psychology of test-taking with the purpose to improve the accuracy, accessibility, and actionability of assessments for candidates, practitioners, and HR professionals. This Research Topic aims to understand the latest advancements in investigating the test-taking experience, including novel methods or the use of emerging technologies to better investigate or enhance the test-taking experience.
As the use of assessments increases, the test-taking experience remains an under-investigated area within Organizational Psychology: how the assessments impact candidates’ perceptions of organizations or stereotype threat causing unfair representations of individuals.
We are interested in any empirical or theoretical manuscripts that improve our understanding of the psychological impact of assessments. We welcome manuscripts that represent original empirical investigations or meta-analyses, articles that address theoretical developments or conceptual reviews of the literature, as well as qualitative investigations of these areas.
A non-exhaustive list of topics that are welcome and encouraged for this Research Topic is:
• Understanding and improving the candidate experience of assessments;
• Differences in perceptions of testing between practitioners and candidates;
• Assessments impacting perceptions of the organization/role;
• Bogus tests and inaccurate feedback
• The validity of new types of tests (e.g. gamification)
• Measuring sensitive issues (e.g. mental illness, intelligence)
Keywords: Personality, Assessments, Selection, Cognitive Ability, Self-Presentation, Application Attrition, Adverse Impact, Diversity & Inclusion
Important Note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.