Is the Relationship Between Cognitive Ability and Job Performance Stable Over Time?

Abstract

Schmidt, Hunter, and Outerbridge's (1986) causal model of job performance suggests that cognitive ability is the most important cause of job performance and that the relationship between ability and performance is stable over time. Research on both the stability of skilled performance and the ability requirements of tasks is inconsistent with this model. Our article describes an alternative model that ascribes a critical importance to ability during stages where workers are learning new tasks and performing unfamiliar functions (i.e., transition stages) but less so during stages where workers are performing well-learned, familiar tasks (i.e., maintenance stages). The alternative model is shown to account for the findings explained by the Schmidt et al. (1986) model, as well as for findings that cannot be accounted for by their model.