Unproctored Internet Testing in Personnel Selection: A Test of Cheating Deterrence Strategies

Unproctored Internet testing (UIT) has become increasingly popular in personnel recruitment and selection. Despite the widespread use of UIT, its fairness and overall impact on the hiring process is still called into question (Ryan & Ployhart, 2014). In consideration of the issues surrounding UIT, the purpose of this thesis was to examine job applicant cheating behaviour. Job candidates (n=110) were recruited through a series of job advertisements. Mild deception was used to cover up the true purpose of the research. Participants were administered a cognitive ability and cheating detection test as part of the regular recruitment process. Contrary to popular practice, cheating deterrence strategies in the form of warning messages did not prevent candidate cheating. Furthermore, cheating was associated with overall lower cognitive ability. These results are discussed in relation to the Theory of Planned Behaviour and the implications for future research.