PERSON-SITUATION SELECTION: A REVIEW OF SOME ABILITY-SITUATION INTERACTION RESEARCH

A review of literatures thought to be relevant for understanding situational contributions to ability-performance relationships was conducted. The review suggested that only three sets of variables, incentive systems, job characteristics, and leadership style/management philosophy ("climates") have recieved research attention from an ability/situation vantage point. It was also shown that in both experimental and survey research these three factors can moderate ability-performance relationships. Because these same three sets of variables are also known to have main effects on average performance levels, an hypothesis is presented that when organizations establish work conditions which facilitate the display of task-relevant individual ability, then validity for ability measures, average performance levels, and general levels of satisfaction will all be high.