Personality Testing in Law Enforcement Employment Settings

Abstract

Meta-analysis was used to (a) assess the overall validity of personality measures as predictors of law enforcement officer job performance, (b) investigate the moderating effects of study design characteristics on this relation, and (c) compare effects for commonly used instruments in this setting. Results revealed a modest but statistically significant relation between personality test scores and officer performance. Prediction was strongest for the California Psychological Inventory and weaker for the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory and Inwald Personality Inventory. Effect sizes were larger for studies examining current job performance, as opposed to future job performance. Implications for using personality tests in the law enforcement officer hiring process are discussed, and recommendations for future research are provided.