Article2008

Unpacking Prior Experience: How Career History Affects Job Performance

Gina Dokko · Steffanie L. Wilk · Nancy P. Rothbard

470 citations0/0 files storedOrganization Science

No readable copy stored yet — this record is metadata only.

Job Satisfaction and Organizational Behavior Higher Education and Employability Innovation and Knowledge Management

Abstract

As individuals change jobs more frequently, it is increasingly important to understand what they carry from their prior work experience that affects their performance in a new organizational context. So far, explanations about the imperfect portability of experience have primarily been about firm specificity of knowledge and skill. We draw on psychological theory to propose additional sociocognitive factors that interfere with the transfer of knowledge and skill acquired from prior related work experience. As we hypothesized, we find that task-relevant knowledge and skill mediates the relationship between prior related experience and job performance and that it acts as suppressing mediator of a negative direct relationship between prior related experience and current job performance. We also find that the positive effect of prior related experience on task-relevant knowledge and skill is attenuated by higher levels of experience within the current firm.

Citations in this library

Stored only when both papers are in the corpus — 470 citations exist upstream.

References

1983Experiential Learning : Experience as the Source of Learning and Development 1982Asymptotic Confidence Intervals for Indirect Effects in Structural Equation Models 1986Research in Organizational Behavior.1984Research in Organizational Behavior 1962Investment in Human Capital: A Theoretical Analysis 2004Handbook of social psychology 1991PEOPLE AND ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE: A PROFILE COMPARISON APPROACH TO ASSESSING PERSON-ORGANIZATION FIT 1998The validity and utility of selection methods in personnel psychology: Practical and theoretical implications of 85 years of research findings.

Cited by

2011Paying More to Get Less 2021When Conscientious Employees Meet Intelligent Machines: An Integrative Approach Inspired by Complementarity Theory and Role Theory 2013Performance Adaptation 2013Talent — Innate or acquired? Theoretical considerations and their implications for talent management 2010Learning from experience and learning from others: how congenital and interorganizational learning substitute for experiential learning in young firm internationalization

Imported from OpenAlex (CC0) — nothing here is generated.