Page 50 - Psychological Management of Individual Performance

general cognitive ability and job knowledge 29
to widespread agreement in the field regarding the validity of general cognitive ability
for the efficient prediction of performance. As a result, research interest in the ability
domain has shifted away from documentation of the predictive validity of general abil-
ity for job performance in favor of theory and research exploring the relations between
abilities, job knowledge, and performance.
At the same time, the application of advances in the structure of personality provided
the necessary organizational framework for coordinating seemingly disparate research
on the predictive validity of various personality and motivation variables. Coupled with
the use of meta-analytic methods for estimating true-score relations between personality
dimensions and job performance, industrial/organizational (I/O) researchers have now
begun to accumulate substantial evidence for the predictive validity of particular non-
ability traits for job performance.
In addition to shifts taking place in both the ability and non-ability domains, I/O
researchers have shown increasing interest in further delineating performance criteria.
Spurred by advances in job analysis and increasing recognition of the fundamental
changes taking place in both the nature of work and the US workforce, research on the
criterion side has increasingly focused on identifying the informal, social, and interper-
sonal elements that contribute to overall job performance. The broadening of perfor-
mance criteria to include relational dimensions suggests an expanding role for theory
and research on non-ability predictors of performance.
This chapter is organized into five sections. In the first section we review contempo-
rary theoretical and empirical developments pertaining to general cognitive ability and
knowledge predictors of job performance. In the second section, we describe progress
in the personality/non-ability trait domain. In the third section, we survey recent studies
investigating non-ability predictors of performance derived from alternative predictor
measures (e.g., biodata, interviews). In the fourth section, we consider recent integrative
work investigating ability and non-ability person predictors of job performance. In par-
ticular, we focus on studies that examine the incremental predictive validity of non-ability
predictors over ability predictors for work behavior and job performance. In the fifth and
final section we summarize progress over the past 15 years, identify potential limitations
and problems in current research, and present recommendations for future research.

GENERAL COGNITIVE ABILITY AND JOB KNOWLEDGE

There is little disagreement that human cognitive abilities serve as a major determinant
of variability in job performance (e.g., Hunter, 1983; Murphy & Shiarella, 1997; Wagner,
1997). As noted by Kanfer et al. (1995), the widespread use of ability tests for personnel
selection and placement in industry can be traced in large part to the use of theoretically
derived ability tests developed for selection and classification of US military personnel
during World Wars I and II. However, based partly on the WWII success of tailored
ability batteries for predicting success in specific tasks (e.g., pilot, navigator, gunman,
etc.), and organizational concerns about the lack of scientific evidence for the criterion-
related validity of broad intelligence measures (e.g., Kelly, 1928; Thomson, 1916) to job
performance, post-war industries tended to reduce industry use of general ability tests in
applicant selection in favor of differentiated abilities tests (e.g., tests of verbal abilities,
memory, fluency).