The relationship between work experience and job performance: A conceptual and meta-analytic review

A gap in the conceptual development of the work experience construct was addressed by creating a framework specifying two dimensions along which work experience measures can vary. The dimensions of measurement mode (amount, time, and type) and level of specificity (task, job, organizational) formed nine separate categories of measures of work experience. The usefulness of the conceptual framework was tested by conducting a meta-analytic review of the existing literature on work experience using the dimensions in the framework as potential moderators of the experience-performance relationship. Results of the meta-analysis (N = 25,911; K = 44) revealed an estimated population correlation of .27 between experience and performance after correcting for sampling error and criterion unreliability. In addition, the results showed that amount (M(<(rho)over bar>) = .43) and task-level (M(<(rho)over bar>) = .41) measures of work experience had the highest correlations with measures of job performance. In addition, work experience had the highest correlations with hard (e.g. work samples) as opposed to soft (e.g. ratings) measures of job performance (M<(rho)over bar> = .39 vs. M<(rho)over bar> = .24). Implications and directions for future research are discussed.