A Situation Judgment Test for Military Multicultural Decision-Making: Initial Psychometric Studies. (September 2016)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Reinerman-Jones, Lauren; Matthews, Gerald; Burke, Shawn; Scribner, David
• Is Part Of: Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society ... Annual Meeting. Volume 60:Part 1(2016)
• Page Start: 1482
• Page End: 1486
• Publication Date: 2016-09
• Subjects: Human engineering -- Congresses; 620.8205
• DOI: 10.1177/1541931213601340
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1541-9312

Abstract

Like other organizations with a global reach, the US military faces challenges associated with multicultural teaming. Cultural differences in norms for work and social relationships may impair decision-making. This article reports the initial stages of the development of a Situation Judgment Test (SJT) for multicultural decision-making ability. SJTs may have greater validity than self-reports of competence. An initial SJT was developed on the basis of critical incidents in multinational operations recounted by military Subject Matter Experts (SMEs). Study 1 examined psychometric properties of the SJT in an internet sample of 250 predominantly civilian respondents. Study 2 collected data from 61 US and coalition partner Warfighters participating in a joint exercise. Findings confirmed the reliability of the assessment across different populations, and established a gradation of item difficulty. Civilian and military samples show somewhat similar response patterns suggesting that multicultural decision-making may reflect shared Western values. Implications for assessment and training are discussed.