The Hogan Personality Inventory (HPI) Explained

The Hogan Personality Inventory (HPI) is a psychometric assessment tool that is designed to measure normal personality as observed in the work environment. The HPI is employed in personnel selection, employee development and for career-related decision-making.

Personality profiling with the HPI is becoming increasingly common practice for organisations in their selection process. This is due to the HPI being a cost effective means to assess how closely a candidate’s personality fits both the job criteria and the culture of the organisation. Because different occupations require different personality characteristics, the HPI can is used to aid decisions about personnel selection, career progression and career planning.

The HPI has been developed specifically for the business community and was the first inventory of normal personality based on the Five-Factor Model. The Five-Factor Model is a purely descriptive model of personality of personality based on five broad domains of personality that are used by contemporary psychologists to describe human personality. These are: Openness, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness, and Neuroticism (referred to as OCEAN in short).

The HPI provides information on what is called the “bright side” of personality. The “bright side” of our personality relates to characteristics that exhibit during social interactions that can facilitate or inhibit a person achieving their goals in their relationships, education, life and in work.

The HPI examines seven core dimensions of the ‘bright side’ of the personality.

– Adjustment – confidence, self-esteem, and composure under pressure

– Ambition – initiative, competitiveness, and desire for leadership roles

– Sociability – extraversion, gregarious, and need for social interaction

– Interpersonal Sensitivity – tact, perceptiveness, and ability to maintain relationships

– Prudence – self-discipline, responsibility and conscientiousness

– Inquisitive – imagination, curiosity, and creative potential

– Learning Approach – achievement-oriented, stays up-to-date on business and technical matters

The HPI has multiple applications. It can be used for:

– Individual assessment the HPI can help a person decide which specific occupation they are best suited to.

– Personnel selection the HPI can help an organisation’s selection process through identifying applicants who display the personal characteristics that fit best to the requirements of the role and organisational culture.

– Management development the HPI can identify areas of possible development for individuals.

Having been used over 25 years to predict employee performance, the HPI has become the industry standard for measuring normal personality. The HPI has helped organisations in reducing employee turnover, absenteeism, and underperforming customer service.

The HPI takes about than 20 minutes to complete. The results of the HPI are delivered in a report that provides a summary of the results on each scale compared to the normative sample. It does not contain any interpretive data as it is considered a breach of professional ethics to administer an HPI assessment without person-to-person follow-up verification by a qualified practitioner.