Stephan J. Motowidlo

Rice University · Department of Psychology

This study tests the hypothesis that situational judgment tests (SJTs) with interpersonal content reflect implicit beliefs about the utility of prosocial action for job effectiveness and that agreeable people are more likely to believe that prosocial action is effective. Two hundred ninety-four undergraduates completed four different SJTs with inte...

Two studies developed and validated a context-independent situational judgment test (SJT) of prosocial implicit trait policy (ITP). The first study developed a SJT based on critical incidents about the prosocial behavior of physicians, lawyers, community service volunteers, and human factors engineers. In a sample of 396 undergraduates, scores obta...

We present two studies that replicate and extend predictions made by implicit trait policy theory about the association between basic traits, knowledge, and behavior. Study 1 examined relations between personality traits, prosocial knowledge, and performance in a role-play casting participants (N = 102) as a physician dealing with challenging inter...

Situational judgment tests (SJTs) are typically conceptualized as contextualized selection procedures that capture candidate responses to a set of relevant job situations as a basis for prediction. SJTs share their sample-based and contextualized approach with work samples and assessment center exercises, although they differ from these other simul...

We cross-culturally replicated and extended findings reported by Kell, Motowidlo, Martin, Stotts, and Moreno that technical knowledge and prosocial knowledge have independent effects on performance. In a sample of 196 Indian medical students, we found that prosocial knowledge explains variance in students' clinical performance beyond the variance e...

This study extended previous research (Motowidlo, Borman, & Schmit, 1997) on antecedents of job performance by testing for independent effects of prosocial and technical knowledge in a sample of 208 medical students. Results show that prosocial knowledge is uncorrelated with technical knowledge and that it contributes incremental variance to clinic...

We report two studies that tested hypotheses about relations between personality, knowledge about service encounters, and performance in service encounters. A novel method for measuring knowledge was used. In one study, we measured undergraduates' personality, knowledge, and skill in handling service encounters in jobs performed by human factors pr...

This chapter presents an overview of job performance as it is conceptualized in the Industrial/Organizational Psychology literature. It includes a definition of job performance that emphasizes the behavioral, episodic, and aggregate nature of the construct. The chapter reviews and discusses several well-established multidimensional models of job pe...

This study tests whether measurement of the cognitive aspect of organizational commitment can explain variance in behavioral expressions of commitment beyond Allen & Meyer’s (1990) measure of the affective component of commitment. This cognitive component was measured by an index of belief accentuation. Undergraduates (N = 110) completed a question...

We report two studies that investigate single-response situational judgment tests (SJTs) as measures of job knowledge. Study 1 examines relationships between job knowledge measured by a single-response SJT, personality, and performance for museum tour guides. Study 2 extends Study 1’s findings with a sample of volunteers using a single-response SJT...

This laboratory study tested motivational effects of accountability to group members and outcome interdependence on task behavior and interpersonal contextual performance such as helpfulness. Both task and interpersonal contextual behavior were higher when group members were accountable to each other. Interpersonal contextual behavior was also high...

We explored moderating effects of situational content on associations between Big Five expressions and behavioral effectiveness judgments within-jobs. Critical incidents were rated for effectiveness and personality expression and sorted by whether they represented task or interpersonal situations. We computed experts’ implicit trait policies (Motow...

This study compared validities of situational judgment test (SJT) scoring keys that were presumed to be differentially saturated with specific knowledge about effective job behavior and general knowledge about effective trait expression. The keys were based on subject matter experts' effectiveness judgments, undergraduates' effectiveness judgments,...

Purpose: This paper describes the development of a situational judgment test (SJT) based on single-response options developed directly from critical incidents and reports a study that tested the SJT’s concurrent validity against ratings of job performance. Design/Methodology/Approach: Situational judgment test items were developed from critical inc...

This study tests the general idea that people in different organizational positions can have different perspectives on what performance means in a particular job and that these different perspectives are reflected in their implicit trait policies (ITPs) about performance in that job. We test the hypothesis that prison inmates harbor ITPs about the...

This study tested the idea that some personality variables are related to interpersonal aspects of job performance primarily through interpersonal knowledge and skill, just as cognitive ability has been shown to be related to technical aspects of job performance primarily through technical knowledge and skill. We measured personality factors, cogni...

In this study we explored relations between visual cues displayed by interviewees, the content of their answers to interview questions, and supervisory ratings of performance. Sixty managers at 4 companies answered structured interview questions on videotape. Their supervisors assessed their performance on dimensions of managerial effectiveness. Th...

Three studies were conducted investigating the effects of notetaking behavior and the content of notes on validity in a selection interview. Overall, results indicate that when notetaking was voluntary, notetakers made more valid ratings than non-notetakers. But, when note-taking was manipulated non-notetakers made ratings that were just as valid a...

This paper describes the results of a study which examined behaviors which can be used to describe effective Human Factors Professionals. The study showed that there is more to being an effective HFP than just technical knowledge. We identified specific behavioral patterns that do not reflect technical knowledge but that do seem to underlie HFP eff...

This paper develops the concept of implicit trait policy (ITP), which is a variant of the accentuation effect described by Tajfel (1957). ITPs are implicit beliefs about causal relations between personality traits and behavioral effectiveness. Studies reported here tested the hypotheses (a) that personality traits affect ITPs so that agreeable peop...

We tested whether improvements in rater accuracy on a performance-appraisal task attributed to rater accountability could be explained by variance in rater behavior. Data from Mero and Motowidlo (1995) were used initially to test whether observed improvements in rater accuracy could be explained by rating process behaviors of attending to relevant...

Two studies investigated the mediating effects of liking and attributions of motives on the relationship between a ratee's reputation and helpful behaviors and raters' reward decisions. During managerial simulations, raters evaluated individuals after watching videotapes in which the individual's reputation and helpful behaviors were manipulated. R...

This study tested effects of holding interviewers accountable for either the procedure they follow to make interview judgments (procedure accountability) or the accuracy of their judgments (outcome accountability) on interview validity. Undergraduates (N = 338) simulated employment interviewers in an experiment that crossed 2 levels of procedure ac...

This study tested effects of holding interviewers accountable for either the procedure they follow to make interview judgments (procedure accountability) or the accuracy of their judgments (outcome accountability) on interview validity. Undergraduates (N = 338) simulated employment interviewers in an experiment that crossed 2 levels of procedure ac...

This laboratory research compared the reliability, validity, and accuracy of a computerized adaptive rating scale (CARS) format and 2 relatively common and representative rating formats. The CARS is a paired-comparison rating task that uses adaptive testing principles to present pairs of scaled behavioral statements to the rater to iteratively esti...

This article briefly introduces the criterion construct, citizenship performance, describes how this construct is different from task performance and presents a recently derived 3-dimension model of the domain. Evidence is then reviewed for links between personality constructs and citizenship performance. An update of the Organ and Ryan (1995) meta...

This article briefly introduces the criterion construct, citizenship performance, describes how this construct is different from task performance and presents a recently derived 3-dimension model of the domain. Evidence is then reviewed for links between personality constructs and citizenship performance. An update of the Organ and Ryan (1995) meta...

The changing nature of work has led to the increased use of teams and increased importance of contextual performance. However, there has been no published research that considers the confluence of these two trends. This chapter addresses this gap. We illustrate how scholars have focused attention on team processes related to the completion of teams...

Evidence from 2 samples of Air Force mechanics supported the hypothesis that contextual performance affects employees' career advancement and rewards over time. Results of hierarchical regressions controlling for experience showed task performance and contextual performance each predicted systemic rewards. Each facet explained separate variance in...

Evidence from 2 samples of Air Force mechanics supported the hypothesis that contextual performance affects employees’ career advancement and rewards over time. Results of hierarchical regressions controlling for experience showed task performance and contextual performance each predicted systemic rewards. Each facet explained separate variance in...

This article examines some basic issues that might pose conceptual challenges in applying ideas related to contextual performance and organizational citizenship behavior to human resource management. It considers labeling issues and differences between the origins and definitions of the terms, contextual performance, and organizational citizenship...

Using videotaped interviews with 60 managers in utility companies, the authors found that a composite of vocal interview cues (pitch, pitch variability, speech rate, pauses, and amplitude variability) correlated with supervisory ratings of job performance (r = .18, p < .05). Using videotaped interviews with 110 managers in a news-publishing company...

Undergraduates ( N = 494) participated in a managerial inbasket simulation While periodically interrupted by a videotaped subordinate who performed at 1 of 4 levels of task performance and 1 of 4 levels of contextual performance. After completing the inbasket, students decided how much of a pay increase to give the subordinate, whether to promote h...

This report describes a project designed to determine if new predictors of performance which could increment currently available operational or experimental aptitude measures could be identified. The focus of prediction was performance of army non-commissioned officers (NCO). New tests of NCO situational judgment, prioritization skills, and self ef...

This study experimentally manipulated various rating strategies to test effects on interdimensional variance, reliability, and validity of interview ratings. Undergraduate research participants ( N = 180) rated 60 interview transcripts under 3 experimental conditions that represented different rating strategies. Interdimensional variance was higher...

This study experimentally manipulated various rating strategies to test effects on interdimensional variance, reliability, and validity of interview ratings. Undergraduate research participants (N = 180) rated 60 interview transcripts under 3 experimental conditions that represented different rating strategies. Interdimensional variance was higher,...

This article distinguishes between task and contextual activities, and a taxonomy of contextual performance containing elements of organizational citizenship behavior and prosocial organizational behavior is offered. Evidence is presented demonstrating that supervisors weight roughly equally subordinate task and contextual performance when making o...

This study attempts to refine the construct of contextual performance by dividing it into 2 narrower constructs, interpersonal facilitation and job dedication. Supervisors rated 975 U.S. Air Force mechanics on at least 1 of 4 aspects of job performance (different supervisors rated each aspect of performance), and 515 of these mechanics also complet...

Explored the usefulness of observers' ratings of extraversion (EXV) and conscientiousness (CONS) for predicting managerial job performance (MJP). Simulated interviews with 60 American managers were videotaped and transcribed, and performance ratings were provided by supervisors. 50 Polish and 93 American undergraduates either saw silent videotapes...

The authors tested the effects of holding raters accountable for their performance ratings on the accuracy and the favorability of those ratings. Undergraduate research participants (N = 247) completed an inbasket exercise and observed a videotaped simulation during 2 sessions over a 2-week period. The simulation presented performance information o...

The authors tested the effects of holding raters accountable for their performance ratings on the accuracy and the favorability of those ratings. Undergraduate research participants (N = 247) completed an inbasket exercise and observed a videotaped simulation during 2 sessions over a 2-week period. The simulation presented performance information o...

This study tests effects of aural and visual cues on the validity of structured interviews. We recorded simulated job interviews with 40 managers from three utility companies on videotape. Supervisors provided performance ratings. Undergraduate research participants (N = 194) saw and heard the videotapes, heard them without the picture, or saw them...

Tests the merit of the distinction made by W. C. Borman and S. J. Motowidlo (1993) between task performance and contextual performance. Supervisors rated 421 US Air Force mechanics on their task performance, contextual performance, and overall performance. Data on length of Air Force experience, ability, training performance, and personality were a...

Reports 2 studies that extend results of S. J. Motowidlo et al (1990) by providing further evidence about relations between situational inventory scores, job performance, and demographic factors. Study 1 found an average predictive validity of .25 against supervisory performance ratings in a sample of 16 management applicants from 1 telecommunicati...

Recruiters from 8 telecommunications companies interviewed applicants or incumbents in 4 studies of the psychometric properties of structured behavioral interviews for management and marketing positions. Results yielded an interrater reliability estimate of .64 ( n = 37), a mean criterion-related validity estimate of .22 ( n ∼ 500), evidence of con...

From critical-incident analysis and judgments by subject-matter experts, a low-fidelity simulation was developed for selecting entry-level managers in the telecommunications industry. The simulation presents applicants with descriptions of work situations and five alternative responses for each situation. It asks them to select one response they wo...

This research concerns the relationship of subjective stress, job satisfaction, and job performance in hospital nurses. Obtained were self reports from 366 nurses, and performance ratings from 165 supervisors and 139 co-workers nominated by the original respondents. Reported are the results of exploratory path analyses, based on a general model, wh...

We tested effects of raters' stress on the favorability and dispersion of performance ratings. In all, 120 undergraduates completed either a stressful or an unstressful inbasket exercise, either before or after they saw a videotaped portrayal of a manager's job performance. Then they rated the manager on several performance dimensions. Ratings prov...

The research described was performed under the overall heading of Project A , the Army current effort to improve the selection, classification, and use of Army enlisted personnel. It is part of an effort to develop dimensions for soldier performance for use in an Army -wide rating scale. The rating scale will be used in evaluating first-term soldie...

Examined occupational stress and its relation with individual characteristics, job conditions, stressful events, affect, and job performance. Study 1, in which 104 nurses participated in group discussions and 96 nurses (mean age 36 yrs) completed a questionnaire, identified 45 stressful events (appended) for nurses. In Study 2, 171 nurses (mean age...

This paper reports two studies of occupational stress and its relation with antecedent variables and job performance. The first study, in which 104 nurses participated in group discussions and 96 nurses completed a questionnaire, identified 45 stressful events for nurses. In the second study, 171 nurses who completed another questionnaire were also...

The construct of prosocial organizational behavior is defined and 13 specific forms are described. They vary according to whether they are functional or dysfunctional for organizational effectiveness, prescribed or not prescribed as part of one's organizational role, and directed toward an individual or organizational target. Potential predictors a...

Two influential theories in organizational behavior and industrial/organizational psychology, goal-setting theory and expectancy theory, are summarized briefly. It is shown that these two theories make opposite predictions about the relationship of expectancy to performance. Since there is evidence supporting both theories, the opposed predictions...

Tested 3 alternative models of causal relationships between satisfaction—expectancy about the consequences of quitting, expectancy about the consequences of staying, and intention to quit or stay—in the context of approximately 755 soldiers' reenlistment decisions. All 3 models presume that perceptions of the job and organization directly influence...

Examined the effects of pay satisfaction (PS) and pay expectation (PE), the perceived probability of receiving more satisfying pay in another job, on withdrawal cognition (WC) and turnover. Questionnaires completed by 89 sales representatives measured affective and cognitive variables related to turnover decisions. PS and PE were correlated with WC...

Examined the possibility that androgynous persons might respond more favorably and supportively toward persons in jobs unusual for their sex. 38 female and 27 male low- to middle-level managers completed the Bem Sex-Role Inventory and were rated by their supervisors for behavioral dispositions related to showing support toward persons in nontraditi...

Tested E. E. Lawler's (1971) hypothesis that when amount of pay is controlled people who evaluate their own performance highly are less satisfied with their pay. 101 sales representatives completed a questionnaire containing measures of self-perceived performance, pay satisfaction, and other variables. They were also rated on job performance by the...

This report presents results of correlational analyses bearing on the construct validity of the Estimate of Self-Competence (ESC) scale which was designed to measure generalized expectancy of task success. Three groups of university students completed the ESC and a variety of other measures. People with high ESC scores report stronger expectations...

This paper presents a scoring procedure for sex-role orientation that is based on indices of profile similarity reflecting how similar an individual is to androgynous, undifferentiated, masculine, and feminine sex-role types. Data is presented to show that the profile scores are reasonably reliable and consistent with a widely used typological scor...

In a laboratory experiment with 113 male university students, probability of succeeding at an arithmetic task was set at either .25, .50, or .75. This objective probability of success was linealy and positively related to subjective probability of success and to level of performance. No significant main effects of the trait of generalized expectanc...

This report describes the development of the Estimate of Self-Competence (ESC) scale. The instrument was designed to measure generalized expectancy of task success, a trait which is presumed to reflect persons' beliefs regarding their likelihood of success in task situations and which accordingly has important implications for the study of expectan...

175 male undergraduates solved arithmetic problems under 1 of 3 experimental conditions of objective probability of task success and 1 of 2 conditions of goal specificity. The relationship between objective probability of task success and performance was curvilinear in both goal conditions such that maximum performance occurred at the intermediate...

Used behaviorally anchored rating scales, developed to measure morale in military units, to examine correlates of officers' ratings of company and platoon morale with 614 US Army enlisted personnel. Several self-report measures of motivation and satisfaction with various facets of Army life (Job Motivation Indices, Survey of Organizations, Job Desc...

Behavioral examples of how military units express varying degrees of morale were provided by US military personnel in the US and in 2 foreign locations. From these examples, behaviorally anchored rating scales were developed for 8 dimensions of group morale. They were used to rate morale of 47 platoon-sized units in the US Army stationed in a forei...

This report reviews and relates to each other the major concepts and theories that differentiate and define the constructs of motivation, satisfaction, and morale; it also describes and summarizes the potentialities of the instruments and methods for measuring these concepts. Discussion is focused on those theories and instruments most likely to be...

Research was conducted to develop the Police Career Index (PCI) and the regional assessment center exercises to provide a total personnel evaluation system to help police departments screen applicants, evaluate on-the-job performance of officers eligible for promotion, and gauge a person's suitability for police work. The PCI is based on actual per...

This report describes an extensive investigation of the constructs of motivation, morale, and job satisfaction as they relate to enlisted personnel in the United States Army. A comprehensive literature review helped to delineate definitions of the three constructs and to identify motivation and satisfaction inventories to be tried in the field. In...

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Minnesota, 1976. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 173-178). Photocopy.