Richard Goffin

Dr. Richard Goffin

Industrial/Organizational Psychology

Email: goffin@uwo.ca
Office: SSC 8406
Tel: 519-661-2111 ext. 84641
Curriculum Vitae

  • Bio

  • Publications

  • Research

Biographical Information

I was born in St. Catharines, Ontario. Aside from loud music and tennis, higher education was just about the only thing that interested me after graduating from high school. I eventually gravitated to the area of industrial/organizational psychology because I enjoyed science but also felt the need to do something very practical. Perhaps the lumber baron, tool designer, dentist, and nursing instructor in my gene pool contributed to my vocational interests.

I have had the good fortune to be trained by some truly outstanding scholars. Dr. Roland Chrisjohn piqued my interest in quantitative and measurement psychology during my master’s studies. During my doctoral training, Dr. Douglas Jackson further developed my appreciation of psychological measurement, cultured my interest in industrial/organizational psychology, and provided a scientist/practitioner role model without equal.

Prior to becoming a professor, I was an industrial/organizational specialist in the Personnel Psychology Centre of the Public Service Commission of Canada and at the Human Resources Branch of the Canada Revenue Agency. My duties in these positions included the investigation of diversity issues in personnel selection, development and validation of various personnel selection devices, and the design and management of job analysis projects. Also, I have undertaken a number of consulting projects with private and public sector organizations and have been successful in authoring and co-authoring many peer-reviewed journal articles based on the data collected from these real-world experiences.

Some of my finest moments come from seeing my graduate students (past and present) achieve important things in their lives. Most of them have gone on to become professors or senior consultants. I am grateful for the opportunity to have worked with them. Some of my other finest moments come from experiencing great live music with family and friends, and doing battle with the evil forces of aging by trying to stay fit.

Selected Publications

SELECTED BOOK CHAPTERS AND PUBLICATIONS IN PEER-REVIEWED JOURNALS

Doyle, K.M., & Goffin, R.D. (in press). Subordinate Ratings of Supervisor Performance: Balancing Accountability and Anonymity. Social Behavior and Personality.

McLarnon, M.J., Goffin, R.D., & Rothstein, M.J. (in press). Differentiation of cognitive abilities and the Medical College Admission Test. Personality and Individual Differences.

McLarnon, M.J., Rothstein, M.G., Goffin, R.D., Rieder, M.J., Poole, A., Krajewski, H.T., Powell, D.M., Jelley, R.B., & Mestdagh, T. (2017). How important is personality in the selection of medical school students? Personality and Individual Differences, 104, 442-447.

Goffin, R.D., & Spring, T.M. (2016). Is the perceived ability to deceive confounded by general mental ability. Personality and Individual Differences, 101, 356-359.

McLarnon, M., Goffin, R.D., & Schneider, T.J. (2016). To be or not to be: Exploring the nature of positively- and negatively-keyed personality items in high-stakes testing. Journal of Personality Assessment, 98, 480-490.

Feeney, J.R., McCarthy, J.M., & Goffin, R.D. (2015). Applicant Anxiety: Examining the sex-linked anxiety coping theory in job interview contexts. International Journal of Selection and Assessment, 23, 295-305.

Feeney, J.R., & Goffin, R.D. (2015). The Overclaiming Questionnaire: A good way to measure faking? Personality and Individual Differences, 82, 248-252.

Schneider, T.J., Goffin, R.D., & Daljeet, K. (2015). “Give us your Social Networking Site Passwords”: Implications for Personnel Selection and Personality. Personality and Individual Differences, 73, 78-83.

Speer, A. B., Christiansen, N.D., Goffin, R.D., & Goff, M. (2014). Situational bandwidth and the criterion-related validity of assessment center ratings: Is cross-exercise convergence always desirable? Journal of Applied Psychology, 99, 282-295.

Goffin, R.D., Woycheshin, D.E., Hoffman, B., & George, K. (2013). The dimensionality of contextual and citizenship performance in military recruits: Support for nine dimensions using self-, peer, and supervisor ratings. Military Psychology (An APA Journal), 25, 478-488.

Tobon, J.I., Reid, G.J., & Goffin, R.D. (2014). Continuity of care in children’s mental health: Development of a measure. Administration and Policy in Mental Health and Mental Health Services Research, 41, 668-686.

Jelly, R. B. , Goffin, R. D., Powell, D.M., & Heneman, R.L. (2013). Incentives and alternative rating approaches: Roads to greater accuracy in job performance assessment? Journal of Personnel Psychology, 11, 159-168.

Goffin, R. D., Jang, I., & Skinner, E. (2012). Forced-choice and conventional personality assessment:  Each may have unique value in pre-employment testing. Personality and Individual Differences, 51, 840-844.

O’Neill, T.A., Goffin, R.D., & Gellatly, I.R. (2012). The use of random coefficient modeling for understanding and predicting job performance ratings:  An application with field data. Organizational Research Methods, 15, 436-462.

Schneider, T.J., & Goffin, R.D. (2012). Perceived ability to deceive and incremental prediction in pre-employment personality testing. Personality and Individual Differences, 52, 806-811.

O’Neill, T. A., Goffin, R.D., & Gellatly, I.R. (2012) The knowledge, skill, and ability requirements for    teamwork: Revisiting the teamwork-ksa test’s validity. International Journal of Selection and Assessment, 20, 36-52.

Goffin, R. D., & Olson, J. M. (2011).  Is it all relative? Comparative Judgments and the Possible Improvement of Self-Ratings and Ratings of Others. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 6, 48-60.

Goffin, R.D., Jang, I., & Skinner, E. (2011). Forced-choice and conventional personality assessment: Each may have unique value in pre-employment testing. Personality and Individual Differences, 51, 840-844.

Goffin, R. D., Rothstein, M. G., Reider, M. J., Poole, A., Krajewski, H. T., Powell, D. M., Jelley, R. B., Boyd, A. C., & Mestdagh, T. (2011). Choosing job-related personality traits:  Developing valid personality-oriented job analysis.  Personality and Individual Differences, 51, 646-651.

Powell, D.M., Goffin, R.D., & Gellatly, I.R. (2011). Gender differences in personality scores. Implications for differential hiring rates. Personality and Individual Differences, 50, 106-110.

Sheppard, L.D.,Goffin, R.D., Lewis, R.J., Olson, L.M. (2011). The effect of target attractiveness and rating method on the accuracy of trait ratings. Journal of Personnel Psychology, 10, 24-33.

O’Neill, T.A., Goffin, R.D., & Gellatly, I.R. (2010). Test-taking motivation and personality test validity. Journal of Personnel Psychology, 9,117-125.

Helmes, E., Goffin, R.D. & Chrisjohn, R.D. (2010). Confirmatory analysis of the Bradburn Affect Balance Scale and its relationship with morale in older Canadian adults. Canadian Journal of Aging, 29, 259-266.

Powell, D.M. & Goffin, R.D. (2010). Assessing personality in the employment interview: The impact of training on rater accuracy. Human Performance, 22, 450-465.

O’Neill, T. A., Goffin, R. D., & Tett, R. P. (2009). Content validation is fundamental for optimizing the criterion validity of personality tests. Industrial and Organizational Psychology: Perspectives on Science and Practice, 2, 509-513.

Goffin, R.D., & Boyd, A.C. (2009). Faking and personality assessment in personnel selection: Advancing models of faking. Canadian Psychology, 50, 151-160.

Goffin, R.D., Jelley, R.B., Powell, D.M., & Johnston, N.G. (2009). Taking Advantage of Social Comparisons in Performance Appraisal: The Relative Percentile Method. Human Resource Management, 48, 251-268.

Anderson, D.W., Krajewski, H.T., Goffin, R.D., & Jackson, D.N. (2008). A leadership self-efficacy taxonomy and its relation to effective leadership behavior. Leadership Quarterly, 19, 595-608.

Goffin, R.D. (2007). Assessing the adequacy of structural equation models: Golden rules and editorial policies. Personality and Individual Differences, 42, 831–839.

Krajewski, H., T., Goffin, R., D., Rothstein, M., G., & Johnston, N., G.  (2007). Is personality related to managerial job performance? That depends on how old you are.  Journal of Business and Psychology, 22, 21-33.

Olson, J., Goffin, R.D., & Haynes, G. (2007). Relative Versus Absolute Measures of Explicit Attitudes: Implications for Predicting Diverse Attitude-Relevant Criteria. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 93, 907-926.

Goffin, R.D., & Anderson, D.W. (2007). The Self-Rater’s Personality and Self-Other Disagreement in Multi-Source Performance Ratings. Journal of Managerial Psychology, 22, 271-289.

Marcus, B., Goffin, R.D., Johnston, N.G., & Rothstein, M.G. (2007). Personality and cognitive ability as predictors of typical and maximum managerial performance. Human Performance, 20, 275-285.

Krajewski, H., T., Goffin, R., D., & McCarthy, J., M., Rothstein, M., & Johnston, N. (2006). Comparing the validity of structured interviews for managerial‑level employees: Should we look to the past, or focus on the future?  Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, 79, 411-432. 

Goffin, R.D., & Woycheshin, D.E. (2006). An empirical method of determining employee competencies/KSAOs from task-based job analysis.  Military Psychology: Official Journal of the Military Division of APA,18, 121-130.

Rothstein, M.G., & Goffin, R.D. (2006). The use of personality measures in personnel selection: What does current research support? Human Resource Management Review, 16, 155-180.

McCarthy, J.M., & Goffin, R.D. (2005). Selection test anxiety: Exploring tension and fear of failure across the sexes. International Journal of Selection and Assessment.13, 282-295.

Krajewski, H. T., Goffin, R. D.  (2005). The role of gender and stressor context in predicting occupational coping strategies and adjustment.  Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, 10, 44-53.

McCarthy, J. M, & Goffin, R. D.  (2004). Measuring Interview Anxiety:  Beyond Weak Knees and Sweaty Palms.  Personnel Psychology, 57, 607-637.

Goffin, R. D. & Christiansen, N. D.  (2003). Correcting personality tests for faking:  A Review of popular personality tests and an initial survey of researchers.  International Journal of Selection and Assessment, 11, 340-344.

Goffin, R. D., Jelley, R. B., & Wagner, S. H.  (2003). Is halo helpful?  Effects of inducing halo on performance rating accuracy.  Social Behavior and Personality, 31, 625-636.

Simner, M. L. & Goffin, R. D. (2003). A Position Statement by the International Graphonomics Society on the Use of Graphology in Personnel Selection Testing. International Journal of Testing, 4, 353-364.

McCarthy, J. M., & Goffin, R. D. (2003). Is the Test Attitude Survey psychometrically sound?  Educational and Psychological Measurement, 63, 446-464.

Jelley, R. B., Goffin, R. D., & Wagner, S. H. (2001). Does inducing halo improve performance rating accuracy?  Proceedings of the annual conference of the Administrative Sciences Association of Canada, Human Resource Division, 22, 1‑10.

Goffin, R. D., & Gellatly, I. R.. (2001). A Multi‑rater assessment of organizational commitment: Are self-report measures biased? Journal of Organizational Behavior, 22, 437-451.

Jelley, R.B., & Goffin, R.D. (2001). Can feedback accuracy be improved? Effects of rater priming and rating scale format on rating accuracy. Journal of Applied Psychology, 86, 134-144.

McCarthy, J. M., & Goffin, R. D. (2001). Improving the validity of letters of recommendation: An investigation of three standardized reference forms. Military Psychology, 13, 199-222.

McCarthy, J. M. & Goffin, R. D. Test-Taking Anxiety in a selection context: The moderating role of applicant gender. (2000). Proceedings of the 2000 Adminstrative Sciences Association of Canada and International Federation of Scholarly Associations of Management joint conference, Human Resources Division, Volume 21, 82-92.

Jelley, R. B., & Goffin, R. D. (1999). Improving feedback accuracy: Effects of rater priming and rating scale format. Proceedings of the 1999 Administrative Sciences Association of Canada Conference, Human Resources Division: Volume 20, 59-69.

King, G., King, S., Rosenbaum, P., & Goffin, R. D. (1999). Family-Centered Caregiving and Well-Being of Parents of Children with Disabilities: Linking Process with Outcome. Journal of Pediatric Psychology, 24, 41-53.

Helmes, E., Goffin, R. D., & Chrisjohn, R. D. (1998) Confirmatory factor analysis of the Life Satisfaction Index. Social Indicators Research, 45, 371-390.

Mikulay, S. M., & Goffin, R. D. (1998). Predicting counterproductivity in the laboratory using integrity and personality testing. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 58, 768-790. (Author notes state that both authors contributed equally to this article).

Wagner, S. H., & Goffin, R. D. (1997). Differences in accuracy of individual and comparative performance appraisal methods. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 70, 95-103.

Goffin, R. D., Gellatly, I. R., Paunonen, S. V., Jackson, D. N., & Meyer, J. P. (1996). Criterion validation of two approaches to performance appraisal: The Behavioral Observation Scale and the Relative Percentile Method. Journal of Business and Psychology, 11, 23-33.

Goffin, R. D., Rothstein, M. G., & Johnston, N. (1996). Personality testing and the assessment center: Incremental validity for managerial selection. Journal of Applied Psychology, 81, 746-756.

Jackson, D. N., Paunonen, S. V., Fraboni, M., & Goffin, R. D. (1996). A five-factor versus six-factor model of personality structure. Personality and Individual Differences, 20, 33-45.

Goffin, R. D., & Woods, D. M. (1995). Using personality testing for personnel selection: Faking and test‑taking inductions. International Journal of Selection and Assessment, 3, 227-236.

Christiansen, N. D., Goffin, R. D., Johnston, N. G., & Rothstein, M. G. (1994). Correcting the Sixteen Personality Factors test for faking: Effects on criterion‑related validity and individual hiring decisions. Personnel Psychology, 47, 847-860. 

Byrne, B. M., & Goffin, R. D. (1993).  Modeling multitrait‑multimethod data from additive and multiplicative covariance structures: An audit of construct validity concordance.  Multivariate Behavioral Research, 28, 67‑96.

Goffin, R. D.  (1993).  A comparison of two new indices for the assessment of fit of structural equation models. Multivariate Behavioral Research, 28, 205‑214.     

Goffin, R. D., & Jackson, D. N. (1992).  Analysis of multitrait‑multirater performance appraisal data: Composite direct product method versus confirmatory factor analysis. Multivariate Behavioral Research, 27, 363‑385.

Gellatly, I. R., Paunonen, S. V., Meyer, J. P., Jackson, D. N., & Goffin, R. D. (1991). Personality, vocational interests, and cognitive predictors of managerial job performance and satisfaction. Personality and Individual Differences, 12, 221-231.

Meyer, J. P., Paunonen, S. V., Gellatly, I. R., Goffin, R. D., & Jackson, D. N. (1989).  Organizational commitment and job performance: It's the nature of the commitment that counts. Journal of Applied Psychology, 74, 152‑156.

Goffin, R. D., & Jackson, D. N. (1988).  The structural validity of the Index of Organizational Reactions. Multivariate Behavioral Research, 23, 327‑347.

PUBLICATIONS IN PRACTITIONER JOURNALS:

Krajewski, H. T., & Goffin, R. D. (2010, August 10). Choosing the right personality test for the   job. Canadian HR Reporter (www.hrreporter.com).

Goffin, R. D.(2001). Pre-employment tests: Choosing the best and avoiding the rest..  HR.com (an internet-based journal for human resources practitioners).

BOOKS:

Goffin, R. D., & Helmes, E. (Eds.) (2000). Problems and Solutions in Human Assessment: Honoring Douglas N. Jackson at Seventy. Norwell, MA: Kluwer Academic Publishers

BOOK CHAPTERS:

Goffin, R. D. (in press). Intelligence in the Workplace. In V. Zeigler-Hill and T.K. Shackelford (Eds). Encyclopedia of Personality and Individual Differences. N. Y.: Springer.

O’Neill, T.A., Goffin, R.D., & Rothstein, M.G. (2013). Personality and the need for personality-oriented work analysis. In N.D. Christiansen & R.P. Tett (Eds.) Handbook of Personality at Work. N.Y.: Routledge. pp. 226-252.

Goffin, R.D., & Woycheshin, D. E. (2012). An empirical method of determining employee competencies/KSAOs from task-based job analysis (reprinted article). In M.D. Matthews & J.H. Lawrence (Eds), Military Psychology: Volume One: Selection, Training, and Performance. Sage Publications.

Goffin, R. D., Rothstein, M. G., & Johnston, N. G. (2000). Personality and job performance: Are personality tests created equal? In R.D. Goffin and E. Helmes (Eds.) Problems and Solutions in Human Assessment: Honoring Douglas N. Jackson at Seventy. (pp. 249-264). Norwell, MA: Kluwer Academic Publishers

Rothstein, M. G., & Goffin, R. D. (2000). The assessment of personality constructs in industrial-organizational psychology. In R.D. Goffin and E. Helmes (Eds.) Problems and Solutions in Human Assessment: Honoring Douglas N. Jackson at Seventy. (pp. 215-248). Norwell, MA: Kluwer Academic



Research

Within the area of industrial/organizational psychology, my research is concerned with the effective management and measurement of employee work performance, and with the improvement of pre-employment testing practices (personnel selection). With respect to work performance management/measurement, I am particularly interested in exploring innovative new approaches to improving the effectiveness of performance feedback and reducing the biases and inconsistencies that are present in performance evaluations. Regarding pre-employment testing, much of my research focuses on the use of personality assessment as a means of hiring the most promising employees, and the problem of faking as it relates to personality testing within this context.

I currently supervise four talented graduate students.

Please click on “publications” to get a better sense of the nature of my research program.