Over the past decade, personality measures have increased in popularity as predictors of performance. There are many reasons for this, including the emergence of the five-factor framework, research showing personality measures can have very useful levels of validity, and the tendency for such measures to demonstrate less adverse impact than measures of cognitive ability. With this increased use have come concerns about the “fakability” of personality inventories. Specifically, because most personality inventories are relatively transparent, concerns have been raised about the extent to which job applicants answer them honestly. Whether conscious or not, research suggests applicants are motivated to present the image most likely to be viewed positively by decision makers. Incumbents, who already have the job and who may be responding under “research-only” instructions, have less motivation to attempt to manage the impressions they make. The result of this “test-taker motivation” may well be exaggerated levels of conscientiousness, agreeableness and extraversion for many applicants.
