The Assessment of Performance Change: An Inductive Example.

Extensive empirical research has been concerned with job performance and performance change, but virtually nothing has been done to develop a broader conceptual framework which might be useful in giving direction to further research. Toward this end, a number of diverse and previously unrelated empirical findings relevant to job performance are shown to converge on one generalization which accounts for all. The central theme of this generalization pertains to the changing nature of performance across time. The applicability of this generalization beyond the job performance setting is shown by various findings from psychological testing and animal learning research. The increased use of this inductive approach is suggested as one possible way to alleviate the widely recognized shortage of theory in industrial-differential psychology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]