Metatraits: Enhancing
Criterion-Related Validity Through the Assessment of
Traitedness
Stephen A.
Dwight
Aon Consulting
Paige
Porter Wolf
John H.
Golden III
Abstract
With the growing use of personality tests as predictors of job performance, the reliable measurement of these personality variables has become important to selection researchers and practitioners. Metatrait researchers have examined the possibility that personality traits are not equally relevant for all people. This study sought to examine whether considering the relevance of a trait to an individual (i.e., traitedness) would enhance the predictive validity of a measure. Specifically, traitedness was expected to moderate the relationship between predictor and criterion scores such that the predictor-criterion relationship would be stronger for more traited than for untraited individuals. Consistent with this hypothesis, a strong moderating effect was found for traitedness between a measure of personality and an objective criterion. Contrary to what was predicted, traitedness only provided incremental validity, above personality, for supervisor ratings of job performance.