Personality, Vocational Interest, and Cognitive Predictors of Managerial Job Performance and Satisfaction

Abstract

We evaluated the extent to which measures of personality, vocational interest, and cognitive ability (verbal and numerical aptitude) predicted on-the-job performance and satisfaction for a sample of first-line managers. The validities of these predictors were evaluated against several performance criteria, such as effectiveness in training and managing unit personnel, and against a measure of promotability. Our results suggested that managerial effectiveness can be predicted by cognitive ability, personality, and vocational interest measures but that the cognitive and noncognitive predictors were related to different aspects of performance. Moreover, the results show that personality and vocational interest measures predict variance in some criteria not accounted for by cognitive ability predictors. The importance of using multiple criteria and of measuring those individual differences that are conceptually relevant to on-the-job performance is discussed.