Personality-feedback interventions have ambiguous effects on performance
Have you ever taken (or administered) a personality test, inventory, or indicator as part of coaching, training, or another development program? Every year, millions of people do so, often because their employer asked them to participate. In an article in the Canadian Journal of Behavioural Science, Blake Jelley reviewed empirical research on the performance-related effects of personality-feedback interventions (PFIs). A PFI is a workplace-related program that provides feedback to people who take a standardized, nonclinical, self-report personality assessment. Proponents claim that PFIs can help participants identify tendencies and areas for improvement and motivate changes to their behavior. Jelley found that research has not yet substantiated beneficial effects from PFIs.