DEVELOPMENT OF A BIODATA INDEX TO

Psychological Reports, 1997,81, 1395-1407. O Psychological Reports 1997

DEVELOPMENT OF A BIODATA INDEX T O MEASURE SERVICE-ORIENTATION ' ANTHONY A. McBRIDE

JORGE L. MENDOZA

Brisfol-MyerSquibb, Itrc.

University of Oklahoma

SHAWN M. CARRAHER

Indiana State University Summary.-In 1984 Hogan, Hogan, and Busch de€iied service-orientadon as "the disposition to be helpful, thoughtful, considerate, and cooperative" (p. 167). As a measure they developed the Service Orientation Index, a 92-item true-false questionnaire. The present study tested whether a biographical inventory could also be used to measure the construct of senrice-orientation. Subjects were given the biographical inventory and the Index to predict their service-oriented performance in a simulated interaction with a customer. Scores on the Service orientation Index were significantly correlated with scores on two biographical scales, Sociability and the Need to make a good impression. The correlations, .24 and .27, were as high as those obtained by Hogan, et a[. The Index scores were also signihcantly correlated with the criterion. Subjects with high scores on Sociability and the Need to make a good impression had the highest ratings on senrice-orientation, Implications for research and applications of these results are mentioned.

Biographical data have been used to predlct successfully a number of variables as diverse as ratings of creativity (Buel, Albright, & Glennon, 1966), productivity (Redy & Chao, 1982), and turnover (Cascio, 1976). The purpose of this study was to develop a biographical inventory to identdy individuals who are service oriented. Hogan, Hogan, and Busch (1984) define service-orientation as the general "disposition to be helpful, thoughtful, considerate, and cooperative" (p. 167). Although this definition addresses only one part of what is needed to ensure quality of service, service-oriented do represent a vital component: While there are numerous applied books available on the proper t e c h q u e s of d e a h g with customers, literature on the selection of service-oriented employees is almost nonexistent. The lack of attention to this issue is surprising considering the artides on the emergence of the service sector as the dominant sector of the economy (Kirkland, 1987; Levinson, 1987; Reeves, 1991). With a change in industry also comes a change in the required slulls of personnel within that industry. One of the most important dimensions in 'Address correspondence to Shawn M. Carraher, Ph.D., Indiana State Universi Deparunent hlmagement and Finance, Terre Haute, IN 47809 or e-mail (MFC&@BEFAC. 1NDSTATE.EDU. ol

service occupations is direct contact benveen customer and employee. Employees' attitudes often make as great a ddference to customers as service delivered (Albrecht & Kemp, 1985). Technical s M s can often be enhanced or developed with training, but attitudes and personahties are less malleable. Therefore, after training sufficient technical proficiency, it is preferable to identlfy and select individuals with attitudes and personalities congruent with organizational ideals and objectives.

Service Orientation Among the most significant work in selecting service-oriented employees has been that of Hogan, Hogan, and Busch (1984). To measure the traits given in their definition of service orientation these authors developed the Service Orientation Index. This Index was a subscale of the Hogan Personality Inventory, a 300-item true-false inventory covering six dimensions of Intellectance (imagination and need for stimulation), Adjustment, Prudence, Ambition, sociab&ty, and LLkabhty. The Index has 92 true-false items covering issues of &ability, adjustment, and sociabhty [both the Inventory and Index have since been altered so that they now contain 206 and 14 items, respectively (Hogan & Hogan, 1995)l. Vahdation of the Index on a group of healthcare workers found a correlation of .3 1 ( p < .05) between the Index and managerial ratings of service orientation. While the work of Hogan, et al. (1984) stands at the forefront of investigation of service orientation, further research on the construct is warranted. It has yet to be established whether service orientation can be measured with inventories other than the Service Orientation Index. The primary focus of the present study is to offer an alternative for this construct. One potential method to measure service orientation is through the use of biographical inventories. Bibliographical data inventories are a type of multiple-choice self-report measure with items about an individual's past and present experiences and behaviors. The presumption is that previous (and present) behaviors and experiences are indicative of future behavior (Owens, 1976). The items in a biographical inventory are designed so they relate to job performance, personahty traits, or both. Studies have indicated that across a variety of predctors, including tests of aptitude and intelhgence, and at all arbitrary vali&ty coefficient cutting scores examined (e.g., r = . I , 3 5 , or .9), biographical data inventories were one of the more vahd predictors (Reilly & Chao, 19821, but reported vahdities have generally averaged only .35 (Asher, 1972). One of the primary reasons for predictive success is because they often contain all the elements of consequence to the criterion (Cascio, 1991, p. 265). Successful application of biographical inventories has been reported for predcting performance in a wide variety of occupations includmg government attorneys (Hough, 1984), service personnel

BIODATA INDEX FOR SERVICE-ORIENTATION

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(Schoenfeldt, 1989), bus drivers, managers, and salesmen (Redly & Chao, 1982). The present study explored the possibility of using biodata to identdy service-oriented individuals. While biographical measures have been used to tap subjective dunensions similar to those in service orientation, there have b& no studies to date which have used biographical information to examine the construct. Given the usefulness of biographical information, a questionnaire based on such data may allow identification of service-oriented individuals. Specifically, two instruments, a biographical data inventory and the Service Orientation Index were used to identdy service-oriented indrviduals based upon a simulated interaction with a customer.

Subjects Subjects were 75 undergraduate students enrolled in an introductory psychology course at a Southwestern state university. The sample contained 75 % ( n= 56) men and 25 % ( n= 19) women of whom 69% were between the ages of 18 and 20 years. Inventories To obtain a measure of construct validlty for both the biodata inventory (described below) and the Service Orientation Lndex, an adjective trait self-report was used. A 7-point rating scale with scale anchors of 1 (strongly dsagree) and 7 (strongly agree) was attached to the items to obtain a measure of the extent to which each of the adjectives was descripuve of each subject. The adjectives were selected on the basis of conceptual relationship to service orientation, e.g., sociable, cooperative, responsible, etc. The second measure was a biographical inventory. In addition to covering basic demographic data (age, sex, etc.), the majority of the questions were about attitudes beheved to be related to service-orientation, e.g., "How important is it for you to make a good impression on others?". The format was multiple-choice with most items having five response options. The third measure was the Service Orientation Index from the Hogan Personality Inventory (Hogan, ei al., 1984). Finally, a measure of service-orientation was obtained using a rater's evaluation form consisting of items such as "The subject had good comrnunication skllls" and "The subject courteously and effectively dealt with customers." This form was used to assess the subjects' performance in an experimental exercise constructed to elicit service-oriented behaviors typical of an interaction with a customer (described below). Design and Procedure Subjects were asked to complete the biographical inventory, the person-

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al~ty adjective checklist, and the Service Orientation Index, in groups of 10 to 15. The three scales were presented in a random order on an aggregated test form. After testing, subjects were scheduled to participate in the special task. Each subject was asked separately to role-play the part of a telemarketing surveyor. This occupation was chosen because it possesses major components of service orientation. Participants were told that the objective was to identify critical aspects of telemarketing interviews and customers. Specifically, they were led to believe that the objective of the study was to identify those customers who would actually make a purchase. Before the beginning of each session, participants received the following instructions: You will be representing an entrepreneurial organization run by students who hope to promote the sale of a new motorcycle. Before the organization commits to importing the producr, it wants to get an idea of customers' interest. Prior to the beginning of this experiment, a sample of upperclassmen were contacted via a mailing List and informed only of the sale of the motorcycle. Students were given a number to call during specified rime periods for further informadon. Based on the details being given to you on this motorcycle, you are to answer any questions students may have concerning the product. AFter you have completed each call, I d ask you several questions about each conversauon, i.e., 'How inrerested was the prospective customer?' etc. It is beheved that such information wdl enable us to obtain a Fairly accurate estimation of future sales, which, in turn, d influence shipping orders, advertising budgets, etc.

Following this briefing period, each subject (one per session) was then escorted to the experimental laboratory. The subject was seated at a desk with a telephone and given a brief description of the product. Subjects were given about 5 minutes to famiharize themselves with the product information, after which the customer (a confederate with a standard set of questions) called the subject. The customer then proceeded to ask the subject questions about the product. After finishing the exercise, subjects were . debriefed, and the exercise was explained to the subjects.

Criterion Ratings of Service Orientation The telephone conversation between the customer and the subject was recorded and later evaluated independently by two raters. Each rater was given the definition of service orientation and a description of the attitudes and behaviors of individuals who rank high and low on the construct. In addition, a training tape, containing a demonstration of the task was also played for each rater so they could hear both an excellent and a poor example of service orientation. After listening to a conversation, raters would rate each of the subjects using the rater's evaluation form described earlier. The evaluations were a direct assessment of the service orientation of each subject. Each rater assessed all subjects.

Construction of the Biodata Scale Seven subscales, identified for inclusion in the biographical inventory,

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were Satisfaction, Sociabhty, Agreeableness, Resistance to stress, Responsibility, Need for achievement, and Need to make a good impression. Items used to measure each scale are shown in the Appendu (p. 1403-1407). Because the sample was small, the scales were constructed using the rational approach (Pace & Schoenfeldt, 1977). Coefficient alpha indicating internal consistency for the scales ranged from .47 to .76. To estimate scale dependency, correlations between the scales were also computed (see Table I), and there appears to be some redundancy among the scales. For example, the correlation between scores on Good impression and Sociabdity is 31; and the correlation between scores on Need for achievement and Responsibhty is .49. Correlations between the scales ranged from -.26 to 3 1 , with an average in absolute value of 2 2 . TABLE 1

PEARSONCORREIATIONS AMONG BIODATA SCALES, MEANS,A N D STANDAFUJ D ~ ~ OFOR N BIODATA S SCALES (N= 75)

Biodara Scales

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1

1. Sociability 2. Good Impression 3. Stress 4. Agreeableness 5. Need for Achievement 6. Responsibility 7 . Life Sausfacrion *p