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Pervasiveness of Dominant General Factors in Organizational Measurement

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 August 2015

Malcolm James Ree ,
Thomas R. Carretta  and
Mark S. Teachout
Malcolm James Ree*
Affiliation:
Department of Leadership Studies, School of Business and Leadership, Our Lady of the Lake University
Thomas R. Carretta
Affiliation:
Air Force Research Laboratory, Warfighter Interface Division, Supervisory Control and Cognition Branch, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio
Mark S. Teachout
Affiliation:
H-E-B School of Business and Administration, University of the Incarnate Word
*
Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Malcolm James Ree, School of Business and Leadership, Our Lady of the Lake University, 411 Southwest 24th Street, San Antonio, TX 78207. E-mail: malcolmree@att.net
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Abstract

General factors are found in the measurement of many human traits. The concept of dominant general factors (DGFs) is introduced to represent the magnitude of general factors within numerous content domains. DGFs are defined as coming from the largest sources of reliable variance and influencing every variable measuring the construct. Although these factors are most frequently found in measures of cognitive ability, they are not limited to cognitive abilities. Examples are provided for a variety of construct and content domains along with estimates of their DGF percentages, ranging from 38% to 92%. Several reasons for these results are offered, and a call for concerted research is made. Research that ignores DGFs by treating specific factors or constructs within a domain as if they were distinct and uncorrelated can lead to errors in interpretation.

Keywords

general factorsdominant general factors
Type
Focal Article
Information
Industrial and Organizational Psychology , Volume 8 , Issue 3 , September 2015 , pp. 409 - 427
Copyright
Copyright © Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology 2015 

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