Dimensionality and Validity of a Structured Telephone Reference Check Procedure

Abstract

A structured telephone reference check (STRC) was developed to assess three job‐relevant personality/interpersonal dimensions (Conscientiousness, Agreeableness, customer focus) for a family of entry‐level, customer‐contact jobs within a service organization. The procedure was designed to be brief (a 10–15 minute telephone call with each referee) and easy to administer by untrained recruitment staff. Confirmatory factor analyses on referee ratings for 223 applicants indicated that referees were able to adequately discriminate between dimensions of applicants' past performance. A predictive, criterion‐related validation study on those applicants who were hired demonstrated that the STRC predicted supervisory ratings of job performance ( r = .25, p < .01, uncorrected; .36 corrected for range restriction and criterion unreliability). No evidence was found that referees with shorter working relationships with applicants provided less valid ratings.