Structure of the Air Force's Job Performance Measurement System andPredictability of the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB)

摘要

The present research employed the Air Force's Job Performance Measurement System(JPMS) to assess the validity of the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB) for predicting job performance in eight Air Force specialties. The conceptual structure of the JPMS was partially confirmed with factor analyses. A factor for technical proficiency and factors for the three rating sources (i.e., supervisor, self, and peer) were found. The remaining factors varied by specialty, but they typically were a merging of an interpersonal proficiency factor with one of the rater source factors. The technical proficiency factor, as well as its defining measures (i.e., work sample tests and job knowledge tests), correlated with the ASVAB for seven of the specialties. Although these validity correlations were modest in magnitude, they indicate that the ASVAB does predict hands-on job performance. In contrast, the rater source factors showed an inconsistent pattern of validity correlations, indicating that rating measures cannot be recommended for validating the ASVAB. Finally, the training outcome of school grades was predicted very well by the ASVAB for all specialties, even when predictability for the technical proficiency measures was removed from the validity correlations.