Predicting Managerial Performance: Testing an Integrated Model

Abstract

In today’s complex business environment the role of middle managers is critical for organizational success (Hansen & Wernerfelt, 1989; Ren & Guo, 2011). This is because middle managers must deal with high levels of complexity in the process of communicating organizational goals and directives from top management to line workers and simultaneously oversee operations and communicate performance information from line workers back to top management (Ren & Guo, 2011). Given the complexity of their work, a critical characteristic that research suggests contributes to the level of middle manager performance is general mental ability, or g. While the relationship of g to performance is well established, it is surprising that more research has not focused on the relationship of g to managerial performance, or to potential moderators of this relationship. In fact, we lack a well-accepted model that integrates g with critical personal characteristics as moderators that would provide guidance for future research, and provide practical guidance in the selection and development of middle managers. As such, the purpose of this study is to identify constructs that might be influential to managerial performance, and to integrate those constructs into a model that includes potential moderators on the relationship of g to managerial performance. This study contributes to the field of management in two ways. First, it contributes to current theory by identifying several key drivers of middle manager performance and integrating them into a theoretical model. Second, this study contributes to practice by proposing and testing an integrated model for selection and development of middle managers that incorporates constructs organizations can identify and develop to improve managerial performance.