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Cognitive abilities: Measurement and Validity for Employee Selection

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Deniz S. Ones at University of Minnesota
Deniz S. Ones
  • University of Minnesota
Stephan Dilchert
Stephan Dilchert
Stephan Dilchert
  • This person is not on ResearchGate, or hasn't claimed this research yet.
Chockalingam (Vish) Viswesvaran at Florida International University
Chockalingam (Vish) Viswesvaran
Jesus F. Salgado at University of Santiago de Compostela
Jesus F. Salgado
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... Personality and cognitive ability are two of the most defining sets of differences between individuals (1). (4)(5)(6)(7)(8)(9)(10)(11). They are also key determinants of physical, mental, and even financial health (12,13). ...
... In the last 100 years, scientific research has established cognitive ability as a key factor in educational success, occupational success, career success, socio-economic success, exceptional attainments, mental health, and physical health (3,7,9,12,13,(24)(25)(26)(27)(28)(29)(30). In characterizing general mental ability, Linda Gottfredson noted, "no specific ability, personality trait, social advantage, or fund of experience has been identified that can compensate for mental powers too weak to lift a task's cognitive load" (31). ...
... Our trait constellations guide how we approach these challenges; helping us balance homeostasis and change in dynamic environments. 9 Indeed, both genes and environment must be considered since nature equipping an unborn child for fitness is like trying to pack your bag for a camping trip when you do not know where you are going; some things are generally useful, like drinking water, but others are best suited to certain environments, like ice picks. 10 This is why it is often said that successful people tend to be those who find or put themselves in situations whose demands fully align to their strengths. ...
Our Constellations. A Primer for Of Anchors & Sails: Personality-ability trait constellations
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Tall - short, introverted - extroverted, smart - simple; the range of differences between people is stunning. But have you ever wondered why we're so different? For the past fourteen years, our team worked to unravel this mystery through the world’s largest set of meta-analyses delving into the connections between personality and intelligence. By meticulously gathering data from millions of people across more than 50 countries over the past century, we conducted 3,500+ meta-analyses. Each meta-analysis served as a pixel in the panorama of human diversity. The resulting picture revealed profound patterns and a unifying theory that explains why we're all so different.
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... For the personnel selection practitioner, cognitive ability tests offer several advantages. The outcomes of cognitive ability tests have been linked to a range of important organizational and job-related outcomes including job performance and success in training [14][15][16]. The predictive utility of cognitive ability increases as the complexity of the job increases; thus, cognitive ability tests may be particularly useful for finding applicants for cognitively demanding jobs. ...
... A further advantage is, unlike other personnel selection methods, cognitive ability tests cannot be influenced by a test taker's attempts to impress management or fake responses. In contrast to these advantages, a concerning disadvantage of cognitive ability tests is that they typically produce subgroup differences -they produce racial and ethnic differences -that are larger than other valid predictors of job performance such as personality tests and structured interviews [15]. Thus, to reduce adverse impact, cognitive ability tests can be used in combination with other selection methods, such as interviews or biographical data, to reduce any potential effect on under-represented groups [17]. ...
The need for research-based tools for personnel selection and assessment in the forensic sciences
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  • Dec 2021
The popularity of forensic science television programs has created a hiring challenge for forensic science laboratories. Laboratories receive unprecedented numbers of applicants, yet struggle to identify highly-qualified candidates. Forensic examiners must possess a unique set of knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSAs) plus other characteristics. They must be critical thinkers, detail-oriented, decisive, and self-regulated; be able to communicate clearly and effectively within the laboratory, with customers (typically investigators or attorneys), and in the courtroom; and demonstrate the required core competencies. Currently, no validated instruments, standardized job descriptions, or lists of KSAs exist to aid in forensic science personnel recruitment and assessment, often resulting in high turnover leading to costly new recruitment and training cycles. This article describes how industrial/organizational psychology develops methods and tools to improve workforce selection; describes some tools currently in use in forensic science; and advocates for research and development of better tools for use in forensic science.
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... Cognitive skills and abilities help the brain remember, reason, focus, think, and solve problems. They help a person process information and use cognitive skills to retrieve and use information [72]. By developing cognitive skills, one can complete this process faster and more efficiently, ensuring that he/she captures the new situation and can process it effectively [73]. ...
Understanding the experience of the mothers’ ability to take care of their preterm infants related to in-hospital and post-discharge: a qualitative content analysis
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  • Jan 2025
  • BMC Pediatr
Background Preterm infants may experience many health and developmental issues, which continue even after discharge from the neonatal intensive care unit. Once home, the mother, as a non-professional and the primary caregiver will be responsible for the essential care of her preterm infant. Purpose Understanding the take care ability in mothers with preterm infants. Methods The content analysis method was used. The data were collected using in-depth and semi-structured interviews from April 2021 to February 2022. Eleven mothers, two fathers, two grandmothers, one neonatal nurse, and two neonatologists with a mean age of 36.05 ± 10.88 years were selected using purposeful and snowballing sampling in Tehran, Iran. Allocating adequate time for data collection, gathering data through different methods, peer checking by two qualitative researchers, long interaction with the settings, maximum variation sampling, appropriate quotations, and showing the range of facts fairly and honestly were considered to ensure the trustworthiness of this study. The data were analyzed through Lindgren et al.’s approach using MAXQDA software. Results Based on the findings and participants’ experiences in 18 deep interviews, the mothers with desirable care ability have adequate ability as described by 17 subcategories and are categorized into five dimensions. The care ability of the mothers of preterm infants upon neonatal intensive care unit discharge consisted of five categories including maternal identity, infant’s needs, cognitive ability, technical ability, and psychological ability. Implications for practice and research In the mothers of preterm infants, maternal identity and the infant’s needs are antecedents of the care ability concept. The care ability of the mothers with preterm infants is distinct from those of other caregivers. This is a multi-dimensional concept and trait related to maternal cognitive ability, technical ability, and maternal psychological ability. Professional neonatal nurses should assess their care ability from multiple perspectives: cognitive, technical, and psychological abilities. They should be considered in designing empowerment and engagement programs for the improvement of the care ability of the mothers of preterm infants. Both mothers and professional neonatal nurses should take responsibility for improving the mothers' ability to take care of their preterm infants.
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... Occupational psychologists have many times documented the importance of intelligence in managerial success, particularly at high levels (Furnham, 2017). Ones et al. (2017), in an excellent, comprehensive, and up-to-date review of the meta-analysis, were concerned with cognitive ability, selection decisions, and success at work. They argue that general mental ability is one of the best, if not the best predictor of success in applied settings. ...
Intelligence, Personality, and Management Level
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  • Apr 2024
Which is a better determinant of achieving senior positions in management: ability or personality? In this study, over 50,000 adults, in very different organizations, completed a multidimensional intelligence test (General Intelligence Assessment), and a subsample (n = 2,368) also completed a personality test (High Potential Traits Inventory). They specified their age (modal 31 years), sex (34% female), and management level (ML; junior 34%, middle 39%, senior executive 27%). People at the most senior ML scored highest on all IQ subtests, particularly word meaning and number speed, but not perceptual speed. Regressions indicated that age, as expected, was the best predictor of ML but that gender, as well as word meaning and number score, was also significantly related to ML. Following correlations, which showed four traits (particularly ambiguity tolerance and conscientiousness) were related to ML, we performed regressions (hierarchical and ordinal logistic) to investigate to what extent there was incremental validity of personality over intelligence, and intelligence over personality, in explaining ML, controlling first for sex and age. Results suggested that personality added 4% incremental variance over intelligence, but the latter added less than 1% over the former. Traits ambiguity acceptance, risk approach, and conscientiousness were all significant predictors of ML. Limitations of various aspects of this study and implications for interventions are considered.
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... At the between-person level, a large body of research has considered green awareness, knowledge, attitude, personality traits, demographic characteristics and habits as the proximal factors that influence inner value towards different green goals (Hansen & Wiernik, 2018;Kollmuss & Agyeman, 2002;Ones et al., 2017;Osbaldiston & Schott, 2012;Renwick et al., 2013;Young et al., 2015). Awareness and knowledge are enabling capabilities for employees to make a green goal (Stern et al., 1999). ...
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  • Jan 2023
Despite the increasing awareness of impacts of organizational activities on the natural environment and the urgent need for sustainable management of ecosystems, emerging research on employee green behaviour in the field of management and organizational science is largely fragmented, requiring an integrative review. Seeking to better understand research opportunities and advance theoretical and empirical development, this paper evaluates available research on the topic by first reviewing conceptualizations and corresponding theoretical approaches. It then develops an overarching framework to evaluate the findings of empirical studies at different levels of analysis for different approaches. It concludes with recommendations for future research on employee green behaviour and provides important implications for environmental sustainability in organizations.
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... Zu Deutsch: In einer realen Fallsituation vergleichbarer Art wären hoch wahrscheinlich Menschen gestorben. Das sind z.T. engere Zusammenhänge als die stärksten in der Organisationspsychologie jemals gemessenen Assoziationen zwischen kognitiver Leistungsfähigkeit und Berufserfolg (Ones et al., 2017). ...
Sozialkapital und Compliance: Führungsstile, Gesundheit und Integrität.
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  • Sep 2022
Hier geht es u.a. um den Zusammenhang zwischen Aspekten der Unternehmenskultur und der Gesundheit und Bindung von Mitarbeitenden in Zeiten der "Great Resignation". Der Schwerpunkt liegt auf der Beziehung zwischen Führungsverhalten und Mitarbeitendengesundheit sowie zwischen Personmerkmalen von Führenden und (un-) ethischem Verhalten. Die Arbeit umfasst sowohl zwei eigene Untersuchungen (n=109 und n=62) berufsbegleitend Masterstudierender in 2019/20 und 2022 sowie literaturbasierte Erkenntnisse. Kernergebnis sind Repliken deutlich umfangreicherer Studien insofern, als sich bspw. auch hier sehr deutliche Zusammenhänge gerade zwischen destruktiver Führung und Burnout zeigen sowie zwischen untersch. Führungsverhalten, dem Sinnerleben der Arbeit sowie der Fluktuationsneigung in der Pandemie. Es wird die Rolle eines unterstützenden Compliance-Managements im Kontext einer förderlichen, ggf. hierarchieärmeren Unternehmenskultur diskutiert.
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... The literature supporting the view that cognitive ability is a strong predictor of workplace outcomes, and thus useful in the context of personnel selection, has continued to grow (Ones et al. 2017). These findings have also been seen to generalise cross-culturally (Salgado et al. 2003). ...
Selecting for Learning Potential: Is Implicit Learning the New Cognitive Ability?
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  • Apr 2022
For decades, the field of workplace selection has been dominated by evidence that cognitive ability is the most important factor in predicting performance. Meta-analyses detailing the contributions of a wide-range of factors to workplace performance show that cognitive ability’s contribution is partly mediated by the learning of task-relevant skills and job-specific declarative knowledge. Further, there is evidence to suggest that this relationship is a function of task complexity, and partially mediated by learning performance in workplace induction and training activities. Simultaneously, evidence is mounting that stable individual differences in implicit learning exist, which are at least partially independent of traditional measures of intelligence. In this article we provide an overview of recent advances in our understanding of implicit learning, outline some of the advantages offered by its measurement, and highlight some of the challenges associated with its adoption as a measure of interest.
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... Similarly, research is needed on the contributions of other dispositional constructs, such as cognitive abilities (Ones et al. 2017a) and vocational interests (Hansen and Wiernik 2018), to employee green behaviours. The relevance of cognitive abilities is likely to arise from individuals' facility with acquiring more environmental knowledge and their capacity to strategically reason about the long-term consequences of human behaviours on the ecology of this planet. ...
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... (Ployhart & Holtz, 2008). Meta-analytic research indicates that, while male and female candidates differ in some specific abilities, there is little or no adverse impact between cognitive ability assessment scores between genders (Ones, Dilchert, Viswesvaran, & Salgado, 2017). Limited research exists on the adverse impact related to other demographic categories. ...
The : Implications for Organisational Design and the Psychological Contract
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  • Feb 2021
The definition of work has been significantly impacted by the rise of the open talent economy and a greater focus on outcome-based work design. These changes have led to a reconceptualisation of the psychological contract as organisations seek new ways of work to achieve sustainable success, whilst employees are expecting work design as part of an attractive employee value proposition. With the acceleration of the changing world of work it has become imperative to explore how organisations respond to the changing psychological contract. The chapter provides a high-level and speculative perspective on the trends that will impact the world of work over the coming years and positions these trends as changes to what we refer to as ‘work’.
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The Role of General and Specific Cognitive Abilities in Predicting Performance of Three Occupations: Evidence from Bifactor Models
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Full-text available
  • Aug 2021
Cognitive abilities are related to job performance. However, there is less agreement about the relative contribution of general versus specific cognitive abilities to job performance. Similarly, it is not clear how cognitive abilities operate in the context of complex occupations. This study assessed the role of cognitive abilities on the performance of three aviation-related jobs: flying, navigation, and air battle management (ABM). Correlated-factor and bifactor models were used to draw a conclusion about the predictive relations between cognitive abilities and job performance. Overall, the importance of particular cognitive abilities tends to vary across the three occupations, and each occupation has different sets of essential abilities. Importantly, the interplay of general versus specific abilities is different across occupations, and some specific abilities also show substantial predictive power.
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