Predictive Validity toward Job Performance of General and Specific Mental Abilities. A Validity Study across Different Occupational Groups

Abstract

There are two main views on the role of cognitive abilities in job performance prediction. The first approach is based on meta-analysis and incremental validity analysis research and the main assumption is that general mental ability (GMA) is the best job performance predictor regardless of the occupation. The second approach, referred to as specific validity theory, assumes that job-unique weighting of different specific mental abilities (SMA) is a better predictor of job performance than GMA and occupational context cannot be ignored when job performance is predicted. The validity study of both GMA and SMA as predictors of job performance across different occupational groups (N = 4033, k = 15) was conducted. The results were analyzed by calculating observed validity coefficients and with the use of the incremental validity and the relative importance analysis. The results supports the specific validity theory – SMA proved to be a valid job performance predictor and occupational context moderated GMA validity.