Predicting compensation among MBA graduates five and ten years after graduation.

Harrell, Margaret S.; Harrell, Thomas W.; McIntyre, Shelby H.; Weinberg, Charles B.

doi:10.1037/0021-9010.62.5.636

Cited by 23 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 7 publications

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“…Neither GCA nor trait motivation (i.e., conscientiousness) alone is a good predictor of early management success. This finding is consistent with previous studies that failed to find main effects when using graduate admission test scores to predict subsequent salary attainment among MBAs (Harrell et al, 1977;Reder, 1978). Our results suggest these earlier findings may be due to the omission of motivation as a moderator of ability.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 92%

“…Variability in motivation across individuals may dampen associations between ability and performance. Thus studies attempting to link graduate admission test scores to future compensation often report nonsignificant and sometimes negative relationships, leading to the conclusion that motivation may be an unmeasured moderator of ability (Harrell et al, 1977;Reder, 1978). Similarly, studies of motivation often fail to find strong associations with performance, leading researchers to acknowledge that ability and other situational constraints may attenuate these relationships (Barrick andMount, 1991, 1993).…”

Section: Performance = Ability X Motivationmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Working Smarter and Harder: A Longitudinal Study of Managerial Success

OʼReilly

Chatman²

1994

Administrative Science Quarterly

139

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We thank Glenn Carroll, Jeffrey Pfeffer, Bob Sutton, and James Wade for comments on earlier drafts of this paper. We measure the effects of motivation and ability on the early career success of a sample of Master's of Business Administration (MBA) graduates in the early years of their careers. We argue that performance is a joint effect of two important individual characteristics: general cognitive ability and motivation. General cognitive ability, which is representative of the general population, refers to individual differences in tasks or pursuits that demand mental effort, such as abstraction, rule inference, generalization, and manipulating or transforming problems. Motivation is conceptualized as a stable mental state that energizes human behavior. Results show that the combination of high general cognitive ability and motivation is significantly associated with more early career success. MBAs who were both smarter and worked harder were more successful in their job search upon graduation, were earning higher salaries, had more rapid pay increases, and received more promotions in their early careers. These findings add to the mounting evidence that studying enduring individual characteristics is critical to predicting behavior.' In the past several years, organizational researchers have engaged in a rather artificial debate about the extent to which individual differences or dispositions predict job outcomes such as attitudes and behaviors (e.g., Davis-Blake and Pfeffer, 1989). While the debate is provocative, a careful examination indicates that there may be less substance to this debate than it seems. By now, most organizational researchers acknowledge the fundamental importance of situational effects, the existence of stable individual differences, and their interaction as causes of behavior (Wright and Mischel, 1987; Chatman, 1989). The controversy lies in questions about the usefulness of measuring dispositions that are sometimes poorly specified and lack reliability and validity, the absence of well-developed theoretical justifications for constructs for given situations, and the frequent use of cross-sectional research designs that do not permit adequate longitudinal testing of clearly specified hypotheses (e.g., Weiss and Adler, 1984). It is clear that poorly designed studies of dispositions exist, but some stable individual differences may predict important attitudes and behavior. Intelligence, or general cognitive ability (GCA),-has a long, well-documented history of research that reliably predicts important organizational outcomes such as job performance and career success (e.g., House, Howard, and Walker, 1992). Hunter (1986: 340) reported a review of "hundreds of studies showing that general cognitive ability predicts job performance in all jobs." The predictive ability of GCA increases for jobs or situations that require increased information processing. This is consistent with Wright and Mischel's (1987) competency-demand hypothesis, which implies that people with more general cognitive abil...

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 92%

Section: Performance = Ability X Motivationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Working Smarter and Harder: A Longitudinal Study of Managerial Success

OʼReilly

Chatman²

1994

Administrative Science Quarterly

139

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“…Weinstein and Srinivasan (1974) found r's of .24 (p < .05) and .49 (p < .01) between MBA grades and adjusted compensation for two samples of Carnegie-Mellon MBA graduates. Harrell, Harrell, McIntyre, and Weinberg (1977) reported an r of .44 with 5…”

Section: Validity Of Academic Performance Measuresmentioning

confidence: 99%

VALIDITY AND FAIRNESS OF SOME ALTERNATIVE EMPLOYEE SELECTION PROCEDURES¹

Reilly¹,

Chao

1982

Personnel Psychology

366

255

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Despite extensive evidence that tests are valid for employee selection, Federal Guidelines have urged employers to seek alternative selection procedures that are equally valid but have less adverse impact on minorities. Research on the validity, adverse impact and fairness of eight categories of alternatives was reviewed. Feasibility of operational use of each type of alternative in an employment setting was also discussed. Only biodata and peer evaluation were supported as having validities substantially equal to those for standardized tests. Previous reviews and more recent research indicated that interviews, self-assessments, reference checks, academic achievement, expert judgment and projective techniques had levels of validity generally below those reported for tests. Data, where available, offered no clear indication that any of the alternatives met the criterion of having equal validity with less adverse impact. Results are discussed and several additional promising alternatives are described.SINCE the first validation studies reported by Munsterberg, specialists in personnel selection have relied heavily on standardized psychological tests. The usefulness of standardized tests for personnel selection is strongly supported. Ghiselli, in his 1966 book, The Validity of Occupational Aptitude Tests, and in a 1973 Personnel Psychology article, summarized the results of hundreds of criterion related validation studies including tests in five major categories: (1) intellectual abilities, (2) spatial and mechanical abilities, (3) perceptual accuracy, (4) motor abilities, and (5) personality tests. Most of ' The authors would like to thank all those members of APA Division 14 who so kindly shared their research findings with us. We would particularly like to thank Mary Tenopyr for her help and advice throughout.

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“…In some cases GPA is positively correlated with success on the job (Harrell, 1969(Harrell, , 1970(Harrell, , 1972Harrell, Harrell, Mclntyre, & Weinburg, 1974) while in other cases significant negative correlations are shown (Pfeffer, 1977;Jepson, 1951). A substantial volume of research has been conducted on this topic making a qualitative review cumbersome and imprecise.…”

mentioning

confidence: 92%

College Grade Point Average as a Predictor of Adult Success: A Meta-Analytic Review and Some Additional Evidence

Bretz¹

1989

Public Personnel Management

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The use of college grade point average (CPA) as a predictor of adult achievement has been debated. Prior reviews of this literature have relied on qualitative analysis to determine the usefulness of GPA in predicting future success. Since qualitative reviews are subject to our human information processing limitations, they often fail to provide definitive conclusions. This research uses meta-analytic techniques to review a substantial subset of the published research on this topic The results generated are mixed. The overall analysis suggests that no relationship exists while subgroup analyses of success in business and success in teaching suggest that significant relationships do exist. Empirical analysis of an additional data set generally supports the f ind ing of the meta-analysis. Three barely significant relationships are found. Based on the relative weakness of these relationships and confidence in the overall meta-analytic results, it is suggested that if a relationship does exist between GPA and job success it is tenuous at best. Since other more significant predictors of success are available, the use of GPA in this capacity is not recommended.

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Predicting compensation among MBA graduates five and ten years after graduation.

Cited by 23 publications

References 7 publications

Working Smarter and Harder: A Longitudinal Study of Managerial Success

Working Smarter and Harder: A Longitudinal Study of Managerial Success

VALIDITY AND FAIRNESS OF SOME ALTERNATIVE EMPLOYEE SELECTION PROCEDURES¹

College Grade Point Average as a Predictor of Adult Success: A Meta-Analytic Review and Some Additional Evidence

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Predicting compensation among MBA graduates five and ten years after graduation.

Cited by 23 publications

References 7 publications

Working Smarter and Harder: A Longitudinal Study of Managerial Success

Working Smarter and Harder: A Longitudinal Study of Managerial Success

VALIDITY AND FAIRNESS OF SOME ALTERNATIVE EMPLOYEE SELECTION PROCEDURES1

College Grade Point Average as a Predictor of Adult Success: A Meta-Analytic Review and Some Additional Evidence

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Product

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VALIDITY AND FAIRNESS OF SOME ALTERNATIVE EMPLOYEE SELECTION PROCEDURES¹