TY - JOUR AU - Brown,Charles TI - Estimating the Determinants of Employee Performance JF - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series VL - No. 353 PY - 1982 Y2 - August 1982 UR - http://www.nber.org/papers/w0353 L1 - http://www.nber.org/papers/w0353.pdf N1 - Author contact info: Charles C. Brown Department of Economics University of Michigan Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1220 Tel: 734/763-3036 Fax: 734/647-1186 E-Mail: charlieb@umich.edu AB - Employers often wish to know whether the factors used in selecting employees do in fact allow them to choose the most qualified applicants. Because the performance of those not chosen is not observed, sample-selection bias is a likely problem in any attempt to "validate" employee-selection criteria. With minor modifications, the recently-developed techniques for dealing with sample-selection problems can be used in this context. Using data on applicants for first-line supervisory positions and ratings of on-the-job performance of those hired, ordinary least squares estimates of the determinants of performance are compared with maximum-likelihood estimates which correct for selection bias. The correction for selection bias produces some appreciable improvements in some variables' coefficients, though the corrected estimates remain "insignificant" at conventional levels. Differences in the firm's stated and actual hiring criteria are also noted. ER -