Using a Personality-Oriented Job Analysis to Identify Attributes to Be Assessed in Officer Selection

The purpose of this research was to identify personality constructs to be assessed in the selection of officers in the Turkish Armed Forces by using a personality-oriented job analysis approach. Personality-oriented job analytic interviews were conducted with currently employed and former officers (N = 78). Content analysis of the interviews led to the identification of a list of attributes presumed to be relevant. The attributes were then rated by a group of officers (N = 447) for relevance and importance. Principal component analysis of the weighted ratings (i.e., Relevance × Importance) resulted in 5 personality dimensions considered to be relevant to the job of military officer: Conscientiousness–Self-Discipline, Military Factor, Self-Confidence, Agreeableness–Extraversion, and Leadership. Finally, using a confirmatory approach, we tested the 5-factor structure against 1-factor and 2-factor solutions. Results suggest that the 5-factor solution has significantly better fit than the alternative models, providing some initial evidence for construct validity.

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