A Meta-Analysis of Interviews and Cognitive Ability

Abstract

The topic of what interviews measure has received a great deal of attention over the years. One line of research has investigated the relationship between interviews and the construct of cognitive ability. A previous meta-analysis reported an overall corrected correlation of .40 ( Huffcutt, Roth, & McDaniel, 1996 ). A more recent meta-analysis reported a noticeably lower corrected correlation of .27 ( Berry, Sackett, & Landers, 2007 ). After reviewing both meta-analyses, it appears that the two studies posed different research questions. Further, there were a number of coding judgments in Berry et al. that merit review, and there was no moderator analysis for educational versus employment interviews. As a result, we reanalyzed the work by Berry et al. and found a corrected correlation of .42 for employment interviews (.15 higher than Berry et al., a 56% increase). Further, educational interviews were associated with a corrected correlation of .21, supporting their influence as a moderator. We suggest a better estimate of the correlation between employment interviews and cognitive ability is .42, and this takes us “back to the future” in that the better overall estimate of the employment interviews – cognitive ability relationship is roughly .40. This difference has implications for what is being measured by interviews and their incremental validity.

New Talent Signals: Shiny New Objects or a Brave New World?

“…Although preemployment job interviews are generally less valid than other assessment tools, they are ubiquitous (Roth & Huffcutt, 2013). Furthermore, job interviews are often the only method used to evaluate candidates, and when used in conjunction with other methods they are generally the final hurdle applicants need to pass.…”

Potential Applications of functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) to Organizational Research: A Primer and Sample Study

“…Research suggests that it predicts both level of occupational attainment and performance within occupations and does so better than anything else including experience and personality traits (Schmidt & Hunter, 1998;2004). Yet, despite obvious information processing demands in both SIs and BDIs, research has failed to find much in terms of correlation with GMA (e.g., Roth & Huffcutt, 2013).…”

Interviewee Selection Test and Evaluator Assessments of General Mental Ability, Emotional Intelligence and Extraversion: Relationships with Structured Behavioral and Situational Interview Performance

“…Several meta-analyses demonstrate a moderate to high corrected correlation between GMA and interview ratings. Specifically, Roth and Huffcutt (2013) found a correlation of .42, Huffcutt et al (1996) found a correlation of . 40, and Berry et al (2007) found a correlation of .27.…”