Evaluations of Drug-Testing Programs

In three experiments undergraduate students at an urban university evaluated drug-testing programs described in scenarios. Evaluations were inversely related to the false positive rate and were more favorable when a positive test result led to rehabilitation than when it led to termination of employment. Inconsistent effects on evaluations were observed for ability of the test to distinguish between previous drug use and current drug-based impairment, false negative rate, and implications of drug-impaired performance for public safety. There was also mixed evidence concerning the relation between evaluations and respondent belief in a just world. These results provide some support for Crant and Bateman's (1989) justice-based model of reactions to drug-testing and have implications for organizational drug-testing policies.