Sample
The study included 139 employee-supervisor dyads recruited from multiple organizations in the United States. Employees’ ages ranged from 19 to 69 (M = 39.21, SD = 11.66), and 53% were male. Ethnic representation included 89 White, 25 Black, 12 Mixed, 11 Asian, and 2 Other. Supervisory experience with the employee varied: more than 2 years (41%), 1–2 years (23%), 6–12 months (19%), 3–6 months (9%), and less than 3 months (7%).
Instruments
The Adaptability test is a situational judgment test (SJT) designed to assess how individuals evaluate and respond to changing circumstances, new information, and unexpected challenges in the workplace. Each item presents a realistic work scenario followed by multiple response options, and participants are asked to identify the most effective behavioral response. Scores reflect the degree to which a participant’s choices align with expert-derived judgments about effective adaptive behavior.
Supervisor-rated job performance outcomes were collected using Likert-type scales covering overall performance, quality of work, ability to understand complex information, adaptability, learning speed, hire-again recommendations, and promotion potential. Personality characteristics such as openness to experience were also measured through supervisor ratings in order to examine convergent validity.
Internal Consistency
The Adaptability test demonstrated an internal consistency of Cronbach’s alpha = 0.503. Although this value is modest, it is consistent with industry expectations for situational judgment tests, which often assess broad, multifaceted constructs that naturally produce lower inter-item correlations. Unlike traditional cognitive tests where items all measure a narrow skill (e.g., pattern recognition), SJTs intentionally sample a variety of behaviors across contexts, which reduces internal homogeneity but better reflects real-world adaptability demands.
Limitations: Reliability for the Adaptability test was examined using internal consistency alone. Because SJTs measure wide-ranging behaviors, internal consistency provides an incomplete view of reliability. Test–retest reliability will be assessed in future studies to establish temporal stability, and additional items may be added to increase measurement precision across different facets of adaptability.