Personality and performance ratings in a military training context : a study of personality predictions of interview ratings of leader potential, and military performance in a longitudinal perspective

Abstract

The use of personality assessments is increasing in popularity. However, personality assessments are relatively seldom used as a selection method in the Norwegian Armed Forces. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relation between personality, interview evaluations of leader potential, and military performance. The empirical research was conducted using data collected in conjunction with the research project Lederkandidatstudien (the leader candidate study). A total number of 1026 non-commissioned officer (NCO) candidates completed a NEO-PI-3 personality inventory, 1024 a leader potential evaluation during selection interviews, and the military performance of 475 NCO candidates was evaluated during the spring of 2016. The results of this study showed that neuroticism was the only personality trait significantly correlating with military performance in the Army (.218). In the same military branch, the selection interview was found to have a significant positive correlation with military performance (.144). Some amount of personality saturation was found in the selection interview of non-commissioned officer training school (NCOS), as extraversion (.197), conscientiousness (.109), and openness (.107) was found to correlate with interview ratings of leader potential. However, the results showed that neither interviews nor personality predicts the military performance of NCO candidates in the Navy or Air Force. As our results indicate that personality traits to some degree play a role in the selection of NCO candidates, we encourage researchers to further investigate the topic of personality traits the context of military selection and training.