Errors in Employment Screening: Who Should Bear the Risk?

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Errors in Employment Screening: Who Should Bear the Risk?

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1988

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Bureau of Business and Economic Research

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Working Paper

Abstract

Today, many employers are using screening tests to "weed out" undesirable individuals or undesirable behaviors from their workforce. Organizations are routinely screening incoming and current employees for drug use, honesty, and the presence of the AIDs virus. The future availability of genetic screening presents even more opportunities for employers to screen for various characteristics. This use of screening tests is in stark contrast to early screening tests of general mental ability which have been found to have validity for predicting future job performance across many jobs. Decision errors occur from problems with the application of test results for human resource management decisions. This paper identifies and describes errors resulting from the use of screening tests in employment. Methods for analyzing tradeoffs between false positive and false negative errors are presented. Consequences of screening test errors for both employees and employers are illustrated. Finally, criteria for assessing who should bear the risk of testing errors, employees or employers, are outlined to aid decision makers.

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The year given (1988) is an estimate.

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Working Paper No. 88-15

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Lengnick-Hall, Mark L; Lengnick-Hall, Cynthia A. (1988). Errors in Employment Screening: Who Should Bear the Risk?. Retrieved from the University Digital Conservancy, https://hdl.handle.net/11299/264686.

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