Establishing the measurement equivalence of online selection assessments delivered on mobile versus non-mobile devices

Abstract

Recent usage data suggest job applicants are completing online selection assessments using mobile devices (e.g., Smartphones) in greater numbers. Advancements in mobile technology’s functionality, affordability, and mobility have quickly made mobile devices the medium of choice for accessing the Internet. Thus, these devices offer logistical advantages for organizations looking to extend their recruiting and selection efforts to a demographically and geographically wider range of potential job applicants. However, organizations must determine that the constructs predictive of future job performance are being measured similarly when applicants complete assessments using mobile devices. In an effort to replicate and extend previous findings on the utility of this new technology in a selection context, this study used two large, applied samples of job applicants in a hospitality organization to examine the measurement equivalence of selection assessments delivered on mobile and non-mobile devices (e.g., personal computers). Measurement invariance tests conducted with multi-group confirmatory factor analysis suggest that mobile versions of a cognitive ability-type assessment, two biodata assessments, a multimedia work simulation, and a text-based situational judgment test are equivalent to non-mobile versions at the configural, scalar, and residual variance level. The results also found that mobile device user latent means are approximately half a standard deviation lower than their non-mobile counterparts for the situational judgment test. Implications for technology-enhanced selection assessment at the practitioner and organizational levels are discussed.