The use of conjoint analysis to evaluate expert ratings in personnel selection

Personnel decisions are often influenced by subjective perceptions of an applicants outward appearance as well as scarcely controllable external or interpersonal factors. Although diagnostic methods like assessment-centers (AC) contribute to a more valid assessment of personality characteristics, variations in the relevance of such characteristics to opaque organizational goals are often neglected. Decisions are also hardly ever transparent, because of the lack of a reliable reference system. Conjoint Measurement procedures permit a reliable and objective estimation of the weighted relevance of individual characteristics to organizational goals. Quantifying the utility concepts of decision-makers in a binding clearing system can provide an orientation framework for reaching personnel decisions and trying to achieve interpersonal consensus. This makes decisions more transparent, more comparable, easier to communicate and more justifiable in institutional and individual terms. Hence, Conjoint-Analysis (CA) can be used as a diagnostic aid to achieve fairer and more objective decisions and to reduce the expenses for personnel selection.