Publication Type
Journal Article
Version
publishedVersion
Publication Date
11-2024
Abstract
Approximately two out of three recruiters report screening candidates’ KSAOs (knowledge, skills, abilities, and other characteristics like personality) or hireability based on social media platforms (e.g., Facebook, LinkedIn), often referred to as cybervetting. However, various researchers cautioned against engaging in this emerging practice due to questions about the validity of social media assessments. Therefore, we conducted a systematic review to summarize initial research on the psychometric properties of social media assessments: Reliability, construct-related validity, and criterion-related validity. Our literature search yielded 12 studies with 536 raters and 2,019 ratees, and most of these studies addressed personality traits. We found that single-rater reliability of social media assessments was mostly poor; convergent validity regarding personality traits was adequate, and criterion-related validity for job-related outcomes was small or close to zero. Convergent validity tended to be higher for ratings of extraversion and lower for neuroticism. However, given that evidence was scarce, we highlight that substantial gaps in the current state of knowledge about social media assessments remain. Thus, we conclude by discussing various avenues for future research to better understand and improve their validity.
Keywords
social media assessments, cybervetting, personnel selection, validity, reliability
Discipline
Human Resources Management | Organizational Behavior and Theory
Research Areas
Organisational Behaviour and Human Resources
Publication
European Journal of Psychological Assessment
Volume
40
Issue
6
First Page
445
Last Page
460
ISSN
1015-5759
Identifier
10.1027/1015-5759/a000835
Publisher
Hogrefe
Citation
MÖNKE, Franz W.; ROULIN, Nicolas; LIEVENS, Filip; BARTOSSEK, Marie Therese; and SCHÄPERS, Philipp.
Validity of social media assessments in personnel selection: A systematic review of the initial evidence. (2024). European Journal of Psychological Assessment. 40, (6), 445-460.
Available at: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/lkcsb_research/7653
Copyright Owner and License
Publisher-CC-ND
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
Additional URL
https://doi.org/10.1027/1015-5759/a000835
