The Impact of Job Knowledge in the Cognitive Ability-Performance Relationship

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. ____________________________________________________________________