Whoever you want me to be: Personality and incentives

C-Tier
Journal: Economic Inquiry
Year: 2024
Volume: 62
Issue: 3
Pages: 1268-1291

Score contribution per author:

0.503 = (α=2.01 / 2 authors) × 0.5x C-tier

α: calibrated so average coauthorship-adjusted count equals average raw count

Abstract

What can employers learn from personality tests when applicants have incentives to misrepresent themselves? Using a within‐subject, laboratory experiment, we compare personality measures with and without incentives for misrepresentation. Incentivized personality measures are weakly to moderately correlated with non‐incentivized measures in all treatments. When test‐takers are given a job ad indicating that an extrovert (introvert) is desired, extroversion measures are positively (negatively) correlated with IQ. Among other characteristics, only locus of control appears related to faking on personality measures. Our findings highlight the identification challenges in measuring personality and the potential for correlations between incentivized personality measures and other traits.

Technical Details

RePEc Handle
repec:bla:ecinqu:v:62:y:2024:i:3:p:1268-1291
Journal Field
General
Author Count
2
Added to Database
2026-01-26