title: Job Desire and Motivation: Response Distortion in Personality Assessment

authors: Roess, Michaella Delphine

subjects: Job Desire

abstract: This study examined personality response distortion based on an individual‟s job desire within a personnel selection scenario. The aim was to determine the extent to which job desire affected individuals‟ responses to a personality assessment. Numerous researchers have studied individuals‟ choices and thought processes that lead to response distortion (Ellingson & McFarland, 2011; McFarland & Ryan, 2000; Snell, Sydell, & Lueke, 1999). Although one determinant that has been proposed is the concept of an individual‟s perceived job desire, little research has been conducted relating to this. Job desire was defined as an individual‟s motivation and passion for a position being applied for. As the study inferred individual‟s job desire from their motivation, individual‟s growth need strength (GNS) and need for achievement (nAch) measures were also assessed.
Ninety-four participants were subjected to two conditions: one a situation of high job desire and one a situation of low job desire. Responses to a measure of the Big Five personality dimensions (openness to experience, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and emotional stability), GNS and nAch were assessed and compared between the two conditions. The findings suggest that job desire affected the individuals‟ pattern of response. Participants responded more positively within the high job desire condition in regards to all five personality dimensions and nAch. Significant correlations occurred between GNS and openness to experience and emotional stability and nAch significantly correlated with openness to experience and conscientiousness.
If an individual possesses high job desire, they are more likely to respond more positively on a personality assessment. The increase in response means from low to high job desire could be related to item transparency. High job desire may motivate the individual to think about the items more to determine the desired correct response. In addition, individuals who change their behaviour depending on the situation are thought to have a higher functional awareness of what is needed. The results indicated that personality assessments are affected by response distortion raising possible consequences relating to personnel selection. Hiring managers may benefit from using use personality assessments in conjunction with other appropriate selection methods tools to cross-reference the self-report measure. Further investigation of an individual‟s job desire is recommended to confirm which personality dimensions are most affected by response distortion. Additionally, further exploration of whether it is possible to assess an applicant‟s job desire may be warranted.

text: Job Desire and Motivation: Response Distortion in Personality Assessment This study examined personality response distortion based on an individual‟s job desire within a personnel selection scenario. The aim was to determine the extent to which job desire affected individuals‟ responses to a personality assessment. Numerous researchers have studied individuals‟ choices and thought processes that lead to response distortion (Ellingson & McFarland, 2011; McFarland & Ryan, 2000; Snell, Sydell, & Lueke, 1999). Although one determinant that has been proposed is the concept of an individual‟s perceived job desire, little research has been conducted relating to this. Job desire was defined as an individual‟s motivation and passion for a position being applied for. As the study inferred individual‟s job desire from their motivation, individual‟s growth need strength (GNS) and need for achievement (nAch) measures were also assessed.
Ninety-four participants were subjected to two conditions: one a situation of high job desire and one a situation of low job desire. Responses to a measure of the Big Five personality dimensions (openness to experience, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and emotional stability), GNS and nAch were assessed and compared between the two conditions. The findings suggest that job desire affected the individuals‟ pattern of response. Participants responded more positively within the high job desire condition in regards to all five personality dimensions and nAch. Significant correlations occurred between GNS and openness to experience and emotional stability and nAch significantly correlated with openness to experience and conscientiousness.
If an individual possesses high job desire, they are more likely to respond more positively on a personality assessment. The increase in response means from low to high job desire could be related to item transparency. High job desire may motivate the individual to think about the items more to determine the desired correct response. In addition, individuals who change their behaviour depending on the situation are thought to have a higher functional awareness of what is needed. The results indicated that personality assessments are affected by response distortion raising possible consequences relating to personnel selection. Hiring managers may benefit from using use personality assessments in conjunction with other appropriate selection methods tools to cross-reference the self-report measure. Further investigation of an individual‟s job desire is recommended to confirm which personality dimensions are most affected by response distortion. Additionally, further exploration of whether it is possible to assess an applicant‟s job desire may be warranted.

year: 2014

title: Peter Ferguson and his new Era: the second battery at Waiorongomai

authors: Hart, Philip

abstract: Peter Ferguson was an experienced miner who did not take kindly to criticism. After spending years mining at Thames he prospected Te Aroha mountain before it was opened to mining, but after finding that he had not discovered gold, as he had believed, he turned to prospecting nearby. He then spent most of his life as a mine manager at Waiorongomai, where he was prominent in the local community.
As Waiorongomai was handicapped by having only one treatment plant, investors, sometimes assisted by Ferguson, made several attempts to erect a second one. After these attempts failed, he formed a private New Era syndicate to erect a plant. Being under-capitalized, it struggled to meet the cost of constructing a road and a branch incline tramway to its site, far up the Waiorongomai Stream; some county councillors, led by Josiah Clifton Firth, who was suspected of trying to retain his battery monopoly, opposed providing financial assistance.
The most important member of Ferguson’s small syndicate was George Fraser, an Auckland engineer whose skills were vital for providing the appropriate machinery for a plant that used a different process to the norm. Visitors were impressed with the new plant in its dramatic setting and miners and investors held high hopes for it, but were quickly disappointed.
After his plant closed after working for only a short time, Ferguson went to Glasgow, where he formed the Ferguson Syndicate Company with the inventors of the new cyanide process. After two years’ absence seeking capital he returned, acquired a large area of mining ground, and erected a second plant, once again raising high expectations. The cyanide process was not, after all, used, and after his new plant quickly proved itself to be unsuccessful, the company collapsed.
After leaving Waiorongomai, Ferguson continued to experiment with new treatment processes, and also sought copper in Northland, in neither case with any success.

text: Peter Ferguson and his new Era: the second battery at Waiorongomai Peter Ferguson was an experienced miner who did not take kindly to criticism. After spending years mining at Thames he prospected Te Aroha mountain before it was opened to mining, but after finding that he had not discovered gold, as he had believed, he turned to prospecting nearby. He then spent most of his life as a mine manager at Waiorongomai, where he was prominent in the local community.
As Waiorongomai was handicapped by having only one treatment plant, investors, sometimes assisted by Ferguson, made several attempts to erect a second one. After these attempts failed, he formed a private New Era syndicate to erect a plant. Being under-capitalized, it struggled to meet the cost of constructing a road and a branch incline tramway to its site, far up the Waiorongomai Stream; some county councillors, led by Josiah Clifton Firth, who was suspected of trying to retain his battery monopoly, opposed providing financial assistance.
The most important member of Ferguson’s small syndicate was George Fraser, an Auckland engineer whose skills were vital for providing the appropriate machinery for a plant that used a different process to the norm. Visitors were impressed with the new plant in its dramatic setting and miners and investors held high hopes for it, but were quickly disappointed.
After his plant closed after working for only a short time, Ferguson went to Glasgow, where he formed the Ferguson Syndicate Company with the inventors of the new cyanide process. After two years’ absence seeking capital he returned, acquired a large area of mining ground, and erected a second plant, once again raising high expectations. The cyanide process was not, after all, used, and after his new plant quickly proved itself to be unsuccessful, the company collapsed.
After leaving Waiorongomai, Ferguson continued to experiment with new treatment processes, and also sought copper in Northland, in neither case with any success.

year: 2016

title: "It's the controlling still". Power effects in the implementation of the bicultural/bilingual early childhood curriculum in Aotearoa/New Zealand.

authors: Ritchie, Jenny

subjects: racism

abstract: Racism is an undelying current within educational practice in Aotearoa/New Zealand. This paper discusses some of the data from a doctoral study that explored a particular teacher education context. In Aotearoa, the early childhood curriculum, Te Whariki, has a bicultural paradigm that requires a degree of bicultural and bilingual competence on the part of educators. This paper explores some of the issues around preparing teachers to deliver this curriculum, with a particular focus on racism.

text: "It's the controlling still". Power effects in the implementation of the bicultural/bilingual early childhood curriculum in Aotearoa/New Zealand. Racism is an undelying current within educational practice in Aotearoa/New Zealand. This paper discusses some of the data from a doctoral study that explored a particular teacher education context. In Aotearoa, the early childhood curriculum, Te Whariki, has a bicultural paradigm that requires a degree of bicultural and bilingual competence on the part of educators. This paper explores some of the issues around preparing teachers to deliver this curriculum, with a particular focus on racism.

year: 2005