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In Defense of the Situation: An Interactionist Explanation for Performance on Situational Judgment Tests

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 March 2016

Alexandra M. Harris ,
Lane E. Siedor ,
Yi Fan ,
Benjamin Listyg  and
Nathan T. Carter
Alexandra M. Harris*
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of Georgia
Lane E. Siedor
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of Georgia
Yi Fan
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of Georgia
Benjamin Listyg
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of Georgia
Nathan T. Carter
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of Georgia
*
Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Alexandra M. Harris, Department of Psychology, University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602. E-mail: alexandra.harris25@uga.edu
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Extract

Whereas Lievens and Motowidlo (2016) propose a model of situational judgment test (SJT) performance that removes the “situation” in favor of conceptualizing SJTs as a measure of general domain knowledge, we argue that the expression of general domain knowledge is in fact contingent on situational judgment. As we explain, the evidence cited by Lievens and Motowidlo against a situational component does not inherently exclude the importance of situations from SJTs and does overlook the strong support for a person–situation interaction explanation of behavior. Based on the interactionist literature—in particular, the trait activation theory (TAT) and situational strength literatures—we propose a model that both maintains the key pathways and definitions posited by Lievens and Motowidlo and integrates the situational component of SJTs.

Type
Commentaries
Information
Industrial and Organizational Psychology , Volume 9 , Issue 1 , March 2016 , pp. 23 - 28
Copyright
Copyright © Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology 2016 

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