Applicant Faking, Social Desirability, and the Prediction of Counterproductive Work Behaviors

Recent studies have pointed to within-subjects designs as an especially effective tool for gauging the occurrence of faking behavior in applicant samples. The current study utilized a within-subjects design and data from a sample of job applicants to compare estimates of faking via within-subjects score change to estimates based on a social desirability scale. In addition, we examined the impact of faking on the relationship between Conscientiousness and counterproductive work behaviors (CWBs), as well as the direct linkage between faking and CWBs. Our results suggest that social desirability scales are poor indicators of within-subjects score change, and applicant faking is both related to CWBs and has a negative impact on the criterion-related validity of Conscientiousness as a predictor of CWBs.