title: The validity of interpersonal skills assessment via situational judgment tests for predicting academic success and job performance.
abstract: This study provides conceptual and empirical arguments why an assessment of applicants' procedural knowledge about interpersonal behavior via a video-based situational judgment test might be valid for academic and postacademic success criteria. Four cohorts of medical students (N = 723) were followed from admission to employment. Procedural knowledge about interpersonal behavior at the time of admission was valid for both internship performance (7 years later) and job performance (9 years later) and showed incremental validity over cognitive factors. Mediation analyses supported the conceptual link between procedural knowledge about interpersonal behavior, translating that knowledge into actual interpersonal behavior in internships, and showing that behavior on the job. Implications for theory and practice are discussed.
authors.affiliation: Department of Personnel Management and Work and Organizational Psychology, Ghent University, Henri Dunantlaan 2, 9000 Ghent, Belgium. filip.lievens@ugent.be
authors.forename: Filip
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Lievens
authors.forename: Paul R
authors.initials: PR
authors.lastname: Sackett
mesh_terms: D000124:Achievement; D000293:Adolescent; D001077:Aptitude Tests; D002983:Clinical Competence / Q000592:standards; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D007396:Internship and Residency / Q000592:standards*; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D007600:Judgment / Q000502:physiology; D008297:Male; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D011581:Psychological Tests; D012570:School Admission Criteria; D013337:Students, Medical / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D013997:Time Factors