Effects of job familiarity and level of analysis on analyst importance ratings of relevant knowledges, skills and abilities

This study was conducted to determine the effects of analyst job familiarity on the accuracy of job analysis information. Differences in job analysis information resulting from differences in the specificity of job information units chosen for analysis were also examined. Students having no prior direct experience with one of three jobs -- secretary, firefighter, or power plant operator -- rated the importance of abilities, both job specific and general, tor successful performance of this job. These three jobs varied in terms of general familiarity associated with them, as determined in a pilot study. ln addition, this study compared the accuracy of secretary ability importance ratings for three groups of students differing in their familiarity with the job of secretary. Test scores on the General Aptitude Test Battery were weighted by both student and expert ability importance weights to determine whether rating differences between the two job analysis sources would influence selection decisions. Accuracy did vary as a function of job familiarity, with secretary ratings being more accurate than firefighter or power plant operator ratings. Importance ratings for specific abilities were more accurate than those for general abilities. The patterns of predicted performance in weighted GATB scores using student and expert weights were quite similar, although there were mean differences between the two weighting strategies. It is suggested that criterion-referenced selection decisions may vary depending on an analyst’s job familiarity, whereas decisions based on norm-referenced measurement would probably not.

Name thesis:degree_name

M.S.

Level thesis:degree_level

masters

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Psychology

Department dc:contributor.department

Psychology

Grantor dc:publisher

Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University

Year dc:date.issued

1983

Author dc:creator

• Donnelly, Laura Ferri

Statement dc:rights

• In Copyright

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

Language dc:language.iso

en

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/10919/114408

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/114408