Dilchert, S., Ones, D. S., & Krueger, R. F.
Industrial and Organizational Psychology, 12(2), 143-150.
(2019)

Personality tests are reliable and valid tools that can aid organizations in identifying suitable employees. They provide utility for maximizing organizational productivity and for avoiding claims of negligent hiring. When properly deployed, personality tests (both normal and abnormal/clinical) pose little threat of violating individuals’ rights under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) or other Equal Employment Opportunity–related laws and regulations. As evidenced by a dearth of successful legal challenges, even with increasing use of personality tests in recent years, organizations have become educated and sophisticated with regard to the ethical and legal use of such tests in employment settings. We predict this trend will continue, incorporating recent developments relating to contemporary models of psychopathology (Kotov et al., 2017; Markon, Krueger, & Watson, 2005), neurobiologically informed theoretical explanations of psychopathology (DeYoung & Krueger, 2018), and the alternative model of personality disorders (AMPD) included in the most recent edition of the American Psychiatric Association’s (APA) Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (Fifth Edition; DSM-5).