The Impact of Job Knowledge in the Cognitive Ability-Performance Relationship
Year: 2005
Type: article
Abstract: This study compared the efficacy of a job knowledge test in predicting task performance and examined the mediating effect of job knowledge in the cognitive ability-performance relationship. Two hundred undergraduates completed a test of cognitive ability and a written job knowledge test, and then performed a computer-generated truck dispatching simulation. Results demonstrated that job knowledge was a better predictor of task performance than was cognitive ability. Furthermore, the scores from the job knowledge test mediated the effects of cognitive ability on task performance and explained significantly more of the variance in performance than did cognitive ability. These results expand our current understanding of job knowledge as a predictor of performance. ____________________________________________________________________ Cognitive ability has been found to be the best, general predictor of performance across a variety of jobs (Hunter & Schmidt, 1996). More specifically, whereas cognitive ability has been correlated highly with job performance (r =.51), other general predictors have somewhat lower correlations (e.g., integrity tests, r =.41; conscientiousness tests, r =.31; biographical data measures, r =.35; and reference checks, r =.26), although equivalent prediction might be obtained using specific predictors (eg., work samples, r =.54) (Schmidt & Hunter, 1998). As a result, cognitive ability has been used frequently as a predictor of performance for employee selection. However, there has been little research examining the mechanisms through which cognitive ability affects performance. Thus, we are suggesting that research that leads to a better understanding of the cognitive abilityjob performance relationship may lead to better prediction. More specifically, we propose that cognitive ability affects the acquisition of job knowledge and that job knowledge in turn affects performance. Hunter (1986) has identified a strong relationship between general cognitive ability and job knowledge and between job knowledge and performance.
Language: English
Subfield: Experimental and Cognitive Psychology
Field: Psychology
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2146824882