The Normative Judgment Test of Honesty-Humility: An Implicit Instrument for Organizational Contexts

Abstract

As traits, motives, and attitudes may partly operate outside of individuals’ awareness, implicit instruments hold great promise in organizational contexts. One understudied implicit paradigm is the partially-structured attitude measure (PSAM), which assesses individuals’ attributes through their judgments of hypothetical persons described in vignettes. Based on this paradigm, we developed the 18-item Normative Judgment Test to assess the personality trait of Honesty-Humility (the NJT-HH). In four studies, we examined the construct- and criterion-related validity of NJT-HH scores. Across studies, NJT-HH scores were positively related to Honesty-Humility, and not related to the other five HEXACO traits (apart from small exceptions). Scores on the NJT-HH were also positively related to scores on a PSAM of honesty, but not related to scores on PSAMs of dissimilar constructs (Study 2). Furthermore, scores on the NJT-HH were negatively related to counterproductive work behavior and positively related to organizational citizenship behavior and task performance, as measured through self-ratings (Study 3) and supervisor ratings (Study 4). Scores on the NJT-HH also explained unique variance in these outcomes above and beyond Honesty-Humility and the other five HEXACO traits. Altogether, these findings provide initial evidence for the practical value of the NJT-HH in organizational contexts.