Can Employees’ Personality and
Cultural Characteristics be Used to
Predict their Best Fit with Software
Testing Job Tasks?
Judith C. Simon, Judith C. Brown
Charles Campbell, Sandra Richardson
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Presentation Overview
1. Importance of topic
2. Theoretical basis
a. Personality
b. Culture
c. Technical expertise
3. Interview data
4. Preliminary model
5. Follow-up research
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Importance of Topic




Trend toward greater organizational
reliance on information systems as part
of strategy
Increased complexity of software
development
Globalization, with diverse development
teams
“People” component identified as the
biggest issue in IT management
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Theoretical Basis - Personality

Personality tests have been used to help
determine job fit for employees


Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) is a
widely used measure, shown to be reliable
and valid when used appropriately
Personality types have been identified as
an important factor in successful team
importance (balance needed for complex
tasks)
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Theoretical Basis - Culture
• Hofstede’s Cultural Dimensions
– Power Distance: extent that different group
members see inequality vs. equality in a
power struggle
– Individualism: extent that individuals assume
an identify beyond a group
– Masculinity or Femininity: gender role
– Uncertainty Avoidance: significance of
structured or unstructured events re behavior
– Long-term Orientation: values of the future vs.
values of the present
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UNITED STATES
• RANKINGS FOR DIMENSIONS
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INDIA
• RANKINGS FOR DIMENSIONS
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COMPARISON
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Theoretical Basis – Technical
Expertise
Studies indicating critical knowledge / skills
desired for IT professionals:
1. Interpersonal communication skills
2. Interpersonal behavior skills
3. Personal motivation and working
independently
4. Critical thinking
5. Creative thinking
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Interview Data
• Participants: Software testing managers
• “Intangibles” were rated as very important
– Self motivation, energy, level, flexibility
– Team orientation, including team leader skills
– Integrity, sense of quality
– Process discipline
– Communications and interpersonal skills
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Interview Data, cont’d
Issues with cultural differences:
 Language difficulties encountered between
workers in U.S. vs. India; observation that faceto-face communications were better understood
than written communications
 Greater interest in Indian culture in work
advancement compared with quality of life
issues
 Regular job changes more likely for those
employed in India
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Model Development
 Preliminary model, based on theoretical
content (no actual data available yet)
 Designed to test data to see what factors
of personality, culture, and technical
expertise might be best used to predict job
success
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MBTI
Thinking/
Feeling
MBTI
Sensing/
Intuition
MBTI
Extrovert/
Introvert
Personality
MBTI
Judgment/
Perception
Employee
Evaluations
Awards
Power
Distance
Individualism
Employee
Job
Satisfaction
Rewards
Uncertainty
Avoidance
Culture
Job
Success
Masculinity
Long-term
Orientation
Leadership
Experience
Technical
Expertise
Education
Programming
Skills
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Follow-up Research
 Further development using Structured
Equation Modeling or logistic regression
techniques
 Use of actual data to assess the influence of
these characteristics on job performance
 Eventual use of model to make effective
decisions related to software testing job
assignments
 Expansion of model to software development
and other IT tasks and functions
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