Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Prompt-Specificity In Scenario-Based Assessments: Associations With Personality Versus Knowledge And Effects On Predictive Validity, Thomas Rockstuhl, Filip Lievens

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Many scenario-based assessments (e.g., interviews, assessment center exercises, work samples, simulations, and situational judgment tests) use prompts (i.e., cues provided to respondents to increase the likelihood that the information received from them is clear, sufficient, and job-related). However, a dilemma for practitioners and researchers is how general or specific one should prompt people's answers. We posit that such differences in prompt-specificity (i.e., extent to which prompts cue performance criteria) have important implications for the predictive validity of scenario-based assessment scores. Drawing on the interplay of situation construal and situational strength theory, we propose that prompt-specificity leads to differential relationships between …