Examining the Criterion-Related Validity of the Employee Screening Questionnaire: A Three-Sample Investigation Dragos Iliescu*, Alexandra Ilie** and Dan Ispas*** *Department of Psychology, National School of Political and Administrative Studies, 6-8 Povernei St., Sector 1, Bucharest 010643, Romania. dragos.iliescu@testcentral.ro **University of South Florida, Tampa, FL, USA ***Illinois State University, Normal, IL, USA Across three samples (N ¼ 475, 358, and 112), the authors examined the criterion-related validity of the Employee Screening Questionnaire (ESQ), a brief forced-choice measure of integrity in the workplace. Results suggested that ESQ scores correlate highly with self- and other-reports of counterproductive work behaviors (rs of .59, .50, and .47 on the consolidated scores), as well as self-reports of job satisfaction (rs of .41 and .22 on the consolidated scores), and intention to leave the organization (rs of .30 and .21 on the consolidated scores). No predictive bias by gender was found for the ESQ scores. Based on these results, the authors encourage more research on the use of personality-based (covert), forced-choice integrity tests in selection contexts. 1. Introduction I ntegrity tests are considered an effective tool for reducing and preventing the occurrence of counter- productive behavior in the workplace (Ones, Viswes- varan, & Schmidt, 1993; Sackett & DeVore, 2001). Integrity tests are based on the assumption that the assessment of certain individual differences in a person (like personality traits, attitudes or past behavior) could predict the engagement of that person in counterpro- ductive work behaviors (CWB). There are two major types of integrity tests: overt and covert, or personality-based (Sackett, Burris, & Callahan, 1989). Overt integrity tests address the issue of CWB directly, in a form which is recognizable by the test taker, either by measuring attitudes toward CWB, or by asking for admission to previous CWBs. Examples of overt integrity measures are the Reid Report, or the Personnel Selection Inventory (Ones & Viswesvaran, 2001). Person- ality-based integrity tests can have either subtle or clear- purpose items, but generally tend to be covert in intent, while measuring certain personality traits, which have been proven by previous research to be connected with CWB, like adjustment, likeability, honesty, humility, pru- dence, faith, and conscientiousness. Examples of covert integrity measures are the Employee Reliability Index (Hogan & Hogan, 1989, 1995) and the Giotto (Ones & Dilchert, 2005). Integrity tests are widely used in the United States (Bean, 1987; Sackett & Harris, 1984), and are also used to a lesser extent in other countries (Coyne & Bartram, 2000, 2002). Meta-analyses (e.g., Ones et al., 1993; Salgado, 2002) and primary studies found that integrity tests are reliable, are viewed as acceptable by applicants (Ispas, Ilie, Iliescu, Johnson, & Harris, 2010; Jones & Joy, 1991), have no adverse impact (Ones & Viswesvaran, 1998), and are valid for predicting, in addition to CWB, other important organizational criteria such as job per- formance, training performance, and absenteeism (Ones et al., 1993; Ones, Viswesvaran, & Schmidt, 2003). Covert integrity tests have also been found to be more resistant to faking, as opposed to overt integrity tests (Alliger & Dwight, 2000). The focus of this study is the Employee Screening Questionnaire (ESQ), a short covert (personality-based) integrity test, with verbal forced-choice items. Bartram (2007) found that in selection contexts, forced-choice items show greater validity than traditional formats (see also Bass, 1957; Jackson, Wroblewski, & Ashton, 2000). Few published studies have examined the criterion- & 2011 Blackwell Publishing Ltd., 9600 Garsington Road, Oxford, OX4 2DQ, UK and 350 Main St., Malden, MA, 02148, USA International Journal of Selection and Assessment Volume 19 Number 2 June 2011