Journal of Applied Psychology 2026
What do we know about job knowledge tests? A 30-year update of validity evidence.
Abstract
= .03). Importantly, operational validities for job performance were larger for job-specific JKTs (.34) than for nonjob-specific tests (.19) and when the criteria included job knowledge (.41) than when they did not (.22). In addition, JKTs administered to job applicants (.32) or current employees (.29) in organizational settings were associated with higher validity than tests administered to people seeking certification in their chosen field (.20). Finally, we tested the mediating role of job knowledge between other antecedents and job performance. Job knowledge statistically fully mediated the relationship between cognitive ability and job performance, partially mediated the relationship between job experience and performance, and did not mediate the relationship between conscientiousness and performance. Overall, these results provide a contemporary synthesis of validity evidence for JKTs in various situations, as well as the role job knowledge plays in other predictors of job performance. (PsycInfo Database Record
- DOI
- 10.1037/apl0001427
- Language
- en
- Sources
- crossref openalex