Effects of Psychological testing in the selection of professionals in the Kenya prisons service (a case study of prison institutions in Mombasa county)

Abstract

It is widely recognized that many human resource functions have the capacity to dramatically alter the effectiveness of organizations, especially the staffing function has a huge impact on an organization’s effectiveness and its ability to develop a sustainable competitive advantage. The success of organizations depends on the calibre of the manpower it has among other factors. One of the strategies to competitiveness is adopting an efficient employee selection process which ensures right employees with right skills are placed on the right jobs. Selection is the process of choosing from numerous applicants, a suitable candidate to fill a vacant position. Properly selected employees are more productive at work than those who are not. Effective selection process is therefore vital for organizational competitiveness. Psychological Testing is a process that uses tests, profiles or a combination of the two to form a deeper understanding of a particular subject such as a candidate’s job suitability or outlining a certain trait or characteristic behavior in an individual. Kenya Prisons Service employs two categories of personnel, professional and non-professional officers. The two categories undergo different selection processes during their recruitment with psychological tests only being administered in the selection of professional officers. The employee - job suitability of professional officers always seem to be higher than non-professional officers thus invoking the need to identify the effect that psychological tests, among other factors, may have on the overall success of the employee selection process. The general objective of this study therefore, was to identify the effect of Psychological Testing on the process of employee selection in the Kenya Prisons Service. The specific objectives were; to determine the effect of Aptitude Tests on the effectiveness of employee selection process, to establish the effect of Intelligence Tests on the effectiveness of employee selection and to identify the effect of Personality Tests on the effectiveness of employee selection. This study was anchored on three theories associated with psychological testing namely, The Multiple Intelligence Theory, The Psychometric Theory and The Item Response Theory, all which were important in justifying the relevance of this study and helped to describe the effect of the independent variables on the dependent variable. The study employed an exploratory research design. Data was collected by means of a Structured Self-administered Questionnaire. The target population had 360 members out of which a sample of 108 respondents was obtained being 30% of the target population, a sample size recommended for this research design. The study employed simple random and stratified random sampling techniques. The data collected was analyzed using the SPSS tool of Data Analysis Version 21 which generated descriptive statistics. The mean, the standard deviations and the Pearson Correlation as well as the Multivariate Regression Statistics of responses were presented through statistical tables. The Correlation Coefficient for the three independent variables; Aptitude Tests, Intelligence Tests and Personality Tests were .394, .468 and .481 respectively implying a significant relationship between the independent and dependent variables since they exceeded the Correlation which is significant at the 0.01 level in the (2-tailed) tests. The Regression Model connecting the three Psychological Tests and Selection was significant (F = 9.406, p<.001) giving conclusive evidence that psychological testing influence the selection process. This study concluded that psychological tests have a significant effect on the process of employee selection. An increase in effectiveness of Psychological Testing strategies and policies will result in an increase in effective selection of employees in Kenya Prisons Service. The study recommends that Kenya Prisons Service should incorporate psychological testing in the selection process of all its categories of employees.