About the PPA method

Structure of the PPA

The PPA is a 20-minute (180-item), online, dynamic assessment of personality and cognitive dimensions that predict job performance across competencies, jobs, industries, and organizations. The PPA measures a broad spectrum of personal characteristics of importance to success or failure on the jobs, including

1. six factors of personality (Five Factor Model with Extraversion being devided into Drive, and Extraversion; each of these six primary personality factors comprises of five sub-factors),
2. two factors of cognitive ability (Strategic and Tactical Intelligence with Quantitative, Spatial, and Verbal sub-factors),
3. two factors of derailment tendencies (Explosive and Isolating), and
4. emotional intelligence (measured as a combination of Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, and Extraversion facets). See Figure 2 for illustration of the PPA factor structure and brief description of PPA primary scales.

PPA factor model

Reliability of the PPA

Each scale measuring given factor has standard assessment length of twenty items that was found to minimize the IRT standard error of measurement and still cover all content requirements and item difficulty levels. To establish PPA reliability test-retest (r > 0.88), internal-consistency (α = 0.72–0.92) and IRT based reliability indexes (0.76–0.96) were computed for individual PPA scales. Available reliability evidence supports the use of the PPA scales for applied decision making in organizations – their scores will be stable, replicable across time, and useful for measuring differences across individuals for selection, development and promotion decisions. To minimize social desirability effects (faking) and to enhance reliability and validity of PPA scales each PPA item is timed during its administration.

Validity of the PPA

Construct validity of the PPA was established by showing a link between the PPA and a theoretical constructs previously shown to be predictive of job performance. For this purpose ten PPA scales, the General Aptitude Test Battery (GATB), the Watson-Glaser Critical Thinking Appraisal (WGCTA), the Hogan Personality Inventory (HPI), International Personality Item Pool (IPIP), the Adjectival Checklist, Goldberg’s Five Factor Markers (FFM), proprietary biodata inventories, interview data, the ACT, and the SAT were used. These assessments all have published validities for use in personnel selection. The relationships between these assessments and the PPA were estimated from 22 studies, each conducted with workplace incumbents in samples of 125 or more, across a number of occupations. The results are all supportive of the construct validity of the PPA scales – the PPA scales are significantly correlated in a positive direction with other measures of the same constructs, significantly correlated in a negative direction with measures of divergent constructs, and not significantly correlated with measures of unrelated constructs. To establish practical usefulness of the PPA (i.e., the extent to which PPA can predict meaningful outcomes, e.g., job performance, turnover, organizational commitment, lost time accidents, absences/times tardy, failed drug tests, employee satisfaction, etc.), its predictive validity was also put to the test. Over 100 local validation studies have been conducted to support the criterion-related validity of the PPA across the occupational families, from entry level jobs to CEOs. In each study, the validity of the PPA was evaluated according to how the assessment would be used operationally, that is, as a configural profile across scales to rate person potential on each critical competency for a job (see also Scoring of the PPA section). Results of these studies were used for estimation of parameters in the PointLeader predictive models using synthetic validity approach. The results of this analysis support the use of the PPA profiles for predicting job performance on competencies that are identified as critical to a job. Given that any job can be effectively described in terms of 40 PointLeader competencies, the validity of the PPA is supported for all jobs through synthetic, or job component validity.

Scoring of the PPA

Given that PPA is based on Item Response Theory (ITR) its primary output has a form of theta scores. These scores are computed using the three-parameter logistic IRT model. To make those scores more understandable for users they are transformed into percentiles that indicate the percentage of people from a comparison group who score at or below given theta score. Percentile scores above the 75th percentile are considered high, and scores below the 25th percentile are considered low. When computing potential scores for acquiring and showing job competencies PointLeader uses theta scores on individual PPA scales. To optimize its validity PPA relies on configural model of scoring, which consists of scoring a set of two or more scales as a pattern or profile of responses to the scales. To receive a fit score for the competency higher than “Low” one must meet cut score hurdles on a configuration of selected PPA scales. The scales and configuration of cut scores is based on the preponderance of validity evidence for predicting successful customer service job behaviors – the applicant must be sufficiently high on all relevant PPA scales, or success on the job will not be achieved. The height of the cut score profile is adjustable to client business needs concerning applicant flow. An overall job fit score is reported based on a summation of job competency scores. In contrast to compensatory model this scoring does not allow compensation for one or more of the scale scores by another scale score.

Fairness of the PPA

Every PPA item is subjected to a sensitivity review by a panel of minority group members prior to field testing. In this way, no item is administered that may have content deemed sensitive to reasonable members of a minority group. In conjunction with sensitivity review panels, PointLeader uses quantitative techniques for examining differential functioning (DF), designed to identify items that may contain bias toward some group of people. Due to these countermeasures the PPA is fair to all people across different cultural, gender and generational groups.

For more detailed information about the PPA please ask us for PPA technical manual at xxx@asystems.as.

PointLeader Competency Model

PointLeader is primarily organized around competencies that are rather directly linked to business processes and outcomes and that represent common framework upon which jobs, employees, and performance can all be aligned. Based on a review of existing research in competency modeling area, PointLeader experts identified 40 key competencies that capture the meaningful variance across majority of existing models. The model that underlies PointLeader reflects a four domain competency model of performance, with competencies organized into domains of intrapersonal skills, interpersonal skills, work skills, and leadership skills (see Figure 1). The four domains reflect a maturity sequence, with intrapersonal skills as the foundation for interpersonal performance, interpersonal skills as the building block for reaching success in work skills, and leadership skills resting on a structure of intrapersonal, interpersonal, and work skills.