Conscientiousness Can Predict Academic Performance – Even in High-Stake Setting

Abstract: We investigated, to what extent Conscientiousness can predict academic performance in a real application high-stakes setting. N = 267 applicants for a place at a university completed a Conscientiousness questionnaire during the selection process and 6 weeks after they commenced their studies. Students’ academic grades were used as criterion variables. The results suggest that the high-stakes setting increases the level of Conscientiousness reported, that not all applicants change their answers to the same extent and that the high-stakes setting decreases the criterion-related validity, but Conscientiousness remains a useful predictor for academic performance in high-stakes settings.