Myers-Briggs Type Indicator - Utility

Utility

In her research, Isabel Myers found that the proportion of different personality types varied by choice of career or course of study. However, some researchers examining the proportions of each type within varying professions report that the proportion of MBTI types within each occupation is close to that within a random sample of the population. Some researchers have expressed reservations about the relevance of type to job satisfaction, as well as concerns about the potential misuse of the instrument in labeling individuals.

CPP became the exclusive publisher of the Myers-Briggs instrument in 1975. They call it "the world's most widely used personality assessment", with as many as two million assessments administered annually. CPP and other proponents state that the indicator meets or exceeds the reliability of other psychological instruments and cite reports of individual behavior.

Some studies have found strong support for construct validity, internal consistency, and test-retest reliability, although variation was observed. However, some academic psychologists have criticized the MBTI instrument, claiming that it "lacks convincing validity data", while some studies have shown the statistical validity and reliability to be low.

Studies suggest that the MBTI is not a useful predictor of job performance. As noted above under Precepts and ethics, the MBTI measures preference, not ability. The use of the MBTI as a predictor of job success is expressly discouraged in the Manual. However, the MBTI continues to be popular because many people are qualified to administer it, it is not difficult to understand, and there are many supporting books, websites and other useful sources which are readily available to the general public.