Evaluation of warning strategies to reduce faking during military recruitment

Figures & data

Table 1. Faking warning summary.

Name	Key Features
Traditional Faking Warning	A short warning that informs applicants that responses will be verified, and dishonesty will lead to disqualification.
Immediate Authentication Warning	A descriptive warning that tries to appeal to applicants’ short-term interests by asserting that the personality test includes items that can detect faking, and that faking could be verified by calling references. It also asserts that faking may lead to needing to defend responses to an officer.
Future Authentication Warning	A descriptive warning that tries to appeal to applicants’ long-term interests by asserting that faking may be apparent sometime in the future and that placement based on faked scores could lead to a less successful career.
Moral Suasion Appeal	A message that tries to persuade applicants to feel negative about faking by having them imagine the negative consequences of working with an officer who was recruited due to faking.
No Faking Warning	No warning is present. Condition serves as a baseline for comparison.

Figure 1. Procedure flow chart.

Table 2. Participant scores on the IPIP personality inventory during the application simulation.

Warning Condition	n	IPIP Personality Inventory									Blatant Extreme Responding
		Conscientiousness			Extraversion			Emotional Stability
		M	SE	95% CI	M	SE	95% CI	M	SE	95% CI	M	SE	95% CI
Traditional Faking Warning	87	3.80	0.05	[3.71, 3.89]	3.55	0.05	[3.45, 3.64]	3.59	0.05	[3.50, 3.68]	11.25	1.03	[9.22, 13.28]
Moral Suasion Appeal	113	3.74	0.04	[3.66, 3.83]	3.46	0.04	[3.38, 3.55]	3.54	0.04	[3.46, 3.62]	11.68	0.91	[9.90, 13.47]
Immediate Authentication Warning	84	3.58	0.05	[3.49, 3.68]	3.36	0.05	[3.26, 3.45]	3.47	0.05	[3.38, 3.57]	7.91	1.04	[5.86, 9.96]
Future Authentication Warning	57	3.76	0.06	[3.64, 3.87]	3.55	0.06	[3.42, 3.67]	3.69	0.06	[3.57, 3.80]	12.44	1.28	[9.92, 14.96]
No Faking Warning	118	3.77	0.04	[3.69, 3.85]	3.47	0.04	[3.39, 3.56]	3.53	0.04	[3.46, 3.61]	14.20	0.89	[12.45, 15.95]

This table displays the estimated marginal mean personality scores on the IPIP Personality Inventory and Blatant Extreme Responding during our experiment. Personality items were measured using a 5-point scale (1 = Strongly Disagree, 5 = Strongly Agree).

Data availability statement

The data from this study are property of Defense Research and Development Canada and are not allowed to be shared publicly.