The normative judgment test: A novel implicit instrument to measure honesty-humility

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.