A Systematic Review of Research Evaluating the Use of Preference Assessment Methodology in the Workplace

ABSTRACT

Preference assessment methodology has largely been utilized to inform behavior-analytic treatment for clinical populations. However, the use of preference assessments has been extended to organizational settings when developing performance management interventions and identifying preferred stimuli and activities that may serve as potential reinforcers. Thus, the purpose of this review was to synthesize the existing research evaluating the use of preference assessment methodology in workplace settings. Twelve articles consisting of 13 studies were included in this review. We coded and summarized a number of key study features, including participant characteristics, stimuli used in preference assessments, cost of stimuli, method and frequency of preference assessments, the use of reinforcer assessments, and social validity measures. We also provide several suggestions for future research.

KEYWORDS:

• Employee preference
• organizational behavior management
• preference assessment
• reinforcer identification
• workplace

Disclosure statement

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethical approval

This article does not contain any studies with human participants performed by any of the authors.

Informed consent

No informed consent was required to conduct this research.