Cited by 2,107Employer Branding and e-HRMCognitive Abilities and TestingPsychometric Methodologies and Testing

Validity and utility of alternative predictors of job performance.

Hunter, John E., Hunter, Ronda F.·1984·Psychological Bulletin

Abstract

Meta-analysis of the cumulative research on various predictors of job performance shows that for entry-level jobs there is no predictor with validity equal to that of ability, which has a mean validity of .53. For selection on the basis of current job performance, the work sample test, with mean validity of .54, is slightly better. For federal entry-level jobs, substitution of an alternative predictor would cost from $3.12 billion (job tryout) to $15.89 billion per year (age). Hiring on ability has a utility of $15.61 billion per year, but affects minority groups adversely. Hiring on ability by quotas would decrease this utility by 5%. A third strategy—using a low cutoff score—would decrease utility by 83%. Using other predictors in conjunction with ability tests might improve validity and reduce adverse impact, but there is as yet no data base for studying this possibility.

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1037/0033-2909.96.1.72

Cites

2 of 2 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Recomputing p-values needs the paper’s full text.

Claims the paper makes

This paper’s full text isn’t openly available, so its claims and self-check weren’t run. The registry and citation checks still apply.

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

  • Hunter and Hunter (1984) cited three papers showing that Black people's work performance is similar to, or lower than, levels which their cognitive ability would predict, and suggested these differences are likely due to poverty and hardship.

    “Hunter and Hunter (1984) cited three papers showing that Black people's work performance is similar, or lower, than levels which their cognitive ability would predict.They suggested these differences are likely due to poverty and hardship.”

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Authors
Hunter, J. E., & Hunter, R. F.
Affiliations
Michigan State University (US)
Venue
Psychological Bulletin
Published
1984-07
Volume
96
Issue
1
Pages
72-98
ISSN
  • 0033-2909 (ISSN-L)
  • 1939-1455
OpenAlex
W2072471610
Cited by
2,107
References
2
Citations by year
2026: 11 · 2025: 16 · 2024: 31 · 2023: 33 · 2022: 24 · 2021: 53 · 2020: 86 · 2019: 45 · 2018: 56 · 2017: 64 · 2016: 54 · 2015: 60 · 2014: 82 · 2013: 79 · 2012: 98
FWCI
44.10
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed
Locations
Psychological Bulletin (publishedVersion)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management › Employer Branding and e-HRM
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Cognitive Abilities and Testing
  • Social Sciences › Decision Sciences › Management Science and Operations Research › Psychometric Methodologies and Testing
Keywords
job performance predictors, personnel selection, ability tests, work sample tests, entry-level jobs, federal hiring, selection validity, cost-benefit analysis, adverse impact, hiring quotas, cut-off values

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review