Differentiating specific job knowledge from implicit trait policies in procedural knowledge measured by a situational judgment test

Abstract

This study compared validities of situational judgment test (SJT) scoring keys that were presumed to be differentially saturated with specific knowledge about effective job behavior and general knowledge about effective trait expression. The keys were based on subject matter experts' effectiveness judgments, undergraduates' effectiveness judgments, and graduate students' trait judgments. We used data reported earlier by Motowidlo, Dunnette, and Carter (1990) with managerial incumbents in telecommunication companies. All keys yielded valid relations with supervisory performance ratings. The key based on subject matter experts' judgments, however, explained criterion variance beyond the variance explained by the other keys. These results suggest that specific knowledge about effective job behavior and general knowledge about effective trait expression (i.e., implicit trait policies) contribute independently to variance in job performance.