Investigating a Persona‐Based Social Distance Intervention Aimed at Increasing the Use of Evidence‐Supported Assessments

Researchers in personnel selection have often expressed concern about the limited use of evidence‐supported assessments (e.g., structured interviews and psychometric tests). Drawing on Construal Level Theory, we propose that this underuse may stem from practitioners' preference for assessments that reduce psychological distance and thus foster familiarity with applicants, over assessments with sound psychometric properties. To test this idea, we developed a persona‐based intervention aimed at reducing the psychological distance, and increasing the usage, of research‐supported assessments. Each persona included a photo and brief description of an example applicant who completed the assessment, shown alongside the persona's assessment results. Participants ( N  = 273) reviewed four evidence‐supported assessments (structured interview, work sample, personality inventory, and cognitive ability test), each randomly presented with or without a persona. Results indicated that personas did not increase perceived social closeness or assessment usage. However, perceived social closeness was positively associated with assessment usage, suggesting interventions that would successfully increase perceptions of social closeness may encourage the adoption of evidence‐supported assessments.