Self-assessment of needs and behavior patterns at work: Psychometric properties of the Personality and Preference Inventory-Normative (PAPI-N)

Along with traits, psychological needs are leading candidates to be useful units for personality research. Therefore, the usefulness of personality assessment in industrial/organizational psychology might be fostered by considering need measures specific to the workplace. The Personality and Preferences Inventory-Normative (PAPI-N) is a questionnaire based on Murray’s need-press theory and is designed to assess needs and behavior patterns relevant to the workplace. Since PAPI-N was primarily developed for personnel selection, Study one analyzed the reliability and factorial validity of the Spanish PAPI-N on a sample of 420 job applicants. To establish the basis for using the PAPI-N in other areas of industrial/organizational psychology, Study two examined its reliability and factorial validity on a sample of 201 volunteers. Results suggest that the internal consistency of the Spanish PAPI-N is adequate in both samples, and similar to that of the original version. Factor analyses of the PAPI-N scales supported partially the factorial validity of the Spanish version by establishing five personality dimensions generalizable across samples and similar to those found in the Personality Research Form, a well-validated measure of Murray’s needs.