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459

The
British
Psychological
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Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology (2007), 80, 459478

q 2007 The British Psychological Society

www.bpsjournals.co.uk

The performance evaluation of novices:

The importance of competence in specific
work activity clusters
Eric Molleman* and Gerben S. van der Vegt
University of Groningen, The Netherlands
In this study, we examine the relationships between newcomers competence in specific
work activity clusters and the evaluation of their performance. Longitudinal data were
gathered on 92 novice nurses from themselves and from the senior staff at three stages:
before entering the job, 6 weeks after entry and 18 months after entry. Results showed
that, after entry, a newcomers competence in the cluster of care activities contributed
more to a positive performance evaluation than competence in the cluster of non-care
activities. Competence in the non-care cluster was only found to contribute to a
positive performance evaluation, if the newcomer also showed competence in the care
cluster. Moreover, novices showed a greater improvement in their care competence
than their non-care competence during the first 18 months of socialization. Finally, we
found that after 18 months competence in the non-care cluster contributes more to a
positive performance evaluation than competence in the care cluster.

Over recent decades, an extensive body of research has been published documenting
the factors that affect the performance of newcomers. These factors include, for
example, recruitment practices, mentoring programmes, newcomer values, demographic characteristics and personality traits (for overviews, see Bauer, Morrison, &
Callister, 1998; Fisher, 1986; Moreland & Levine, 2001; Saks & Ashforth, 1997; Wanous,
Poland, Premack, & Davis, 1992). A factor that plays an important role in the evaluation
of the overall performance of newcomers is their competence (see, for example, Blau,
1999; Haueter, Macan, & Winter, 2003). This is perhaps not surprising given that most
studies that consider the functioning of newcomers involve some discussion on the
extent to which individuals have learned the tasks that are part of the job (Dubinsky,
Howell, Ingram, & Bellenger, 1986; Feldman, 1976; Fisher, 1986; Louis, 1980; Van
Maanen, 1976; Van Maanen & Schein, 1979).
Competence refers to an individuals knowledge, skills and abilities with respect to
the work activities that have to be conducted in the full range of situations associated
with their position (Campion, Mumford, Morgeson, & Nahrgang, 2005; Cunningham,
* Correspondence should be addressed to Professor Eric Molleman, Faculty of Management and Organization, PO, Box 800,
9700 AV Groningen, The Netherlands (e-mail: h.b.m.molleman@rug.nl).
DOI:10.1348/096317906X154469

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460 Eric Molleman and Gerben S. van der Vegt

1996). Depending on the occupational group under consideration, these work activities
are usually grouped into clusters (Campion et al., 2005). Work activity clusters provide a
unit of analysis that can precisely describe the prerequisites for high performance in a
specific job, while remaining manageable in terms of the total number of units necessary
to describe them. For example, for an academic, competence in the teaching work
activity cluster might include didactic skills, the ability to provide feedback and
knowledge of ones own field, while competence in the research work activity cluster
will include knowledge of research methodology, and statistical and writing skills.
To date, most studies in the literature on newcomers have examined the effects of
overall or general competence on such outcomes as stress, job satisfaction,
organizational commitment and performance (see, for example, Blau, 1999; Haueter
et al., 2003). Few studies have examined whether and how a newcomers competence
in more specific work activity clusters is related to the evaluation of their overall job
performance. Indeed, past research has ignored the fact that most jobs require
competence in a mixture of different work activity clusters, and that competence in
certain clusters may be more important in receiving a positive overall performance
evaluation than competence in others.
Moreover, most previous studies have not done justice to the complexity and the
dynamics of the relationship between newcomers competence in specific work activity
clusters and the evaluation of their overall performance. That is, most studies have
overlooked the possibility that the importance or relevance of some of these clusters for
positive overall job performance evaluations may depend on how newcomers, their
peers, and their supervisors define the novices roles immediately after entry (Morgeson,
Delaney-Klinger, & Hemingway, 2005; Morrison, 1994; Salancik & Pfeffer, 1978; Tepper,
Lockhart, & Hoobler, 2001; Wrzesniewski, Dutton, & Debebe, 2003). In addition, many
studies have ignored the fact that, over time, employees roles may develop and
therefore the importance of competence in certain work activity clusters may also
change (Barrett, Caldwell, & Alexander, 1989; Feij, Whitely, Peiro, & Taris, 1995). For
example, it is likely that for graduates starting out on a research career, knowledge and
mastery of research methodology is very important, while in a later stage of their
academic careers the ability to acquire grants or to develop a research programme may
become more important competences.
The goal of this study is to contribute to the performance appraisal literature by
developing a more detailed view of how newcomers competence in specific work
activity clusters explains how their overall performance is rated, and how this
relationship may change over time. Following Saks and Ashforths (1997) suggestion,
we do this by examining the role of two clearly distinguishable work activity clusters
in a specific occupational group, namely hospital nurses. By focusing on two work
activity clusters appropriate to novice nurses we are able to gain a more precise
insight into how competence in these clusters relates to the evaluation of their
performance and to obtain more accurate assessments of how their competence in
these clusters develops over time. This may not only increase our understanding of
the relationships between competence and the evaluation of a novices overall job
performance over time, but also provide important inputs that can be used in the
development of professional training programmes for hospital nurses and support
managerial interventions to improve the functioning and development of newcomers.
Further, it may also provide additional insights into how newcomers may improve the
socialization process themselves.

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Performance of novices 461

Theory and hypotheses

The importance of competence in specific work activity clusters
Although it might seem obvious that, in general, a newcomers competence will be
related positively to their performance, past research has shown that this relationship is
in fact quite complex. Other factors such as motivation, personality, expectations, work
design characteristics, mentoring systems, social support, norms, values and attitudes
may mediate or moderate the competenceperformance relationship or directly affect
performance (see, for example, Decker, 1985; Elbright, Urden, Patterson, &
Chalko, 2004; Fisher, 1985; Forgas & George, 2001; Hancock, Campbell, Ramprogus,
& Kilgour, 2005; Wanous et al., 1992; While, 1994). Thus, even if newcomers have the
knowledge, skills and abilities to potentially perform well, this does not necessarily
mean that they will actually perform at high levels. Therefore, examining the
relationship between novices competences in specific activity clusters and overall job
performance is not as trivial as it first might sound. Moreover, while logical work activity
clusters can be identified for most jobs and positions, competence in all of these clusters
is not necessarily important for obtaining positive overall performance evaluations.
Depending on ones specific role within a work-group or organization, competence in
some clusters may be considered more important or relevant than in others (KammeyerMueller & Wanberg, 2003). This is implicitly acknowledged in several studies that have
tried to identify and evaluate core clusters for a number of professions. Zaccaro and
Banks (2004), for example, emphasized leader visioning and adaptability as the most
important activity clusters for managers during a change in the project. Van Leuven
(1999) identified several work activity clusters that were seen as the most important for
entry-level practitioners in the public relations profession.
Competence in specific work activity clusters for novice nurses
Within the nursing literature, several work activity clusters are distinguished, including
clinical care, managerial tasks and communication skills (see, for example, Clinton,
Murrells, & Robinson, 2005; Fitzpatrick, While, & Roberts, 1997; Norman, Watson,
Murrells, Calman, & Redfern, 2002; Redfern, Norman, Calman, Watson, & Murrells,
2002; Tzeng & Ketefian, 2003; Wandelt & Stewart, 1975; Watson, Stimpson, Topping, &
Porock, 2002; Zhang, Luk, Arthur, & Wong, 2001). Competence in such work activity
clusters is acquired through training and education in nursing schools, and is included as
a major learning objective in most curricula (see, for example, Clinton et al., 2005;
Gardner, Gardner, & Proctor, 2004; Lee-Hsieh, Kao, Kuo, & Tseng, 2003). However, it is
unlikely that competence in all of the suggested clusters is necessary for a positive
overall performance evaluation of nurses entering their first job. Given that the primary
task of novice nurses is to provide high-quality care to patients, competence in
providing patient care will generally be considered as more important for achieving a
high performance evaluation than competence in other clusters (Clinton et al., 2005;
Ramritu & Barnard, 2001; Woods, 1999). Therefore, we argue that competence in the
patient care work activity cluster will be of greatest importance in achieving a high
performance rating. This cluster encompasses patient-related care activities, such as
changing an infusion, bandaging a patient, supporting a patients self-care, helping a
patient cope with the consequences of illness or informing a patient about a threatening
medical examination that will come (see, for example, Fitzpatrick et al., 1997; Tzeng &
Ketefian, 2003; Wandelt & Stewart, 1975). In the remainder of this article, we refer to a
novices mastery of such activities as their care competence.

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462 Eric Molleman and Gerben S. van der Vegt

For the purposes of this study, and based on nursing literature, we also distinguish a
second work activity cluster for the nursing profession that is only weakly related to care
activities. This cluster includes activities such as contributing to the health care quality
system, being able to define new working roles, providing guidance to other nurses and
being able to come up with innovative working methods (see Fitzpatrick et al., 1997;
Norman et al., 2002; Tzeng & Ketefian, 2003; Wandelt & Stewart, 1975). In the
remainder of this article, we will refer to a novices mastery of such activities as their
non-care competence. We admit that by using this simple classification, we do not
include all the work activity clusters that could possibly be identified for the nursing
profession. Nevertheless, this general distinction is appropriate for the purposes of our
study since we wish to examine the relationship between novices competence in
specific but differentially important activity clusters and their overall performance
evaluations over time.
Importance of work activity clusters on novice performance
That work activity clusters differ in their importance for high job performance has
implications for the relationship between novices competence in these clusters and the
evaluation of their overall job performance (Watson et al., 2002). Since the objective of a
nursing ward is first and foremost to provide high-quality patient care, we assume that
when novice nurses indicate to have a high care competence, then their contribution
to the performance of the ward is greater. Therefore, we would expect their care
competence just after entry to be more strongly and positively related to their overall
performance evaluation than their non-care competence. Moreover, there may be
indirect ways in which care competence contributes to a higher overall performance
rating. It is likely that those who contribute most to good quality patient care, due to
their care competence, will receive the greatest support from their peers and
supervisors. Receiving such social support will, in-turn, help novices to improve their
performance still further (Cable & Parsons, 2001; Chen & Klimoski, 2003; Haueter et al.,
2003; Moreland, 1985; Moreland & Levine, 1980; Moreland & Levine, 2001). If during
the first period after entry, the care competence of novices is indeed more important for
their higher overall job performance than their non-care competence, then care
competence should be a stronger predictor of how their overall performance is
evaluated than their non-care competence.
Hypothesis 1: Just after entry, novices competence in the care cluster contributes more to a
positive overall job performance evaluation than their competence in the non-care cluster.

The above line of reasoning does not imply that non-care competence is
unimportant for novice nurses during their first period after entry. We accept that
competence in this cluster may be also a predictor of their performance evaluations, but
expect that the strength and direction of this relationship will also depend on their care
competence. Indeed, one could argue that novice nurses who have shown competence
in care activities will be given more latitude to demonstrate and develop their other
talents and will therefore, be considered ready at an earlier stage for transfers to other
roles in which non-care competence is more critical (Berger, Rosenholtz, & Zelditch,
1980; Berger, Webster, Ridgeway, & Rosenholtz, 1986; Chen & Klimoski, 2003;
Moreland & Levine, 2001). Consistent with this assertion, Feldman (1976, p. 446) found
that newcomers first have to feel on top of their jobs before they will make suggestions
about altering work-related activities. Indeed, before they are given sufficient credit

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Performance of novices 463

(or idiosyncrasy credits according to Hollander, 1985) to manifest their non-care

competence, novice nurses will first have to live up to expectations (Berger et al., 1980;
Feldman, 1976).
In contrast, novices who indicate to be less competent in the care cluster may not be
given opportunities to expose their hidden competence in other activity areas and,
even if they do expose them, they might be evaluated negatively. Senior nurses will
generally disapprove, if novices start to use their non-care competences before they
have shown themselves to be sufficiently competent in the care cluster. Thus, care
competence can be considered as a threshold for the employment of competence in
other areas (Zhang et al., 2001). Any attempt to broaden ones role prior to showing
sufficient care competence is likely be viewed as untimely and inappropriate (Feij et al.,
1995). Based on these arguments, we would assume that just after entry, novices care
competence would moderate the relationship between their non-care competence and
the evaluation of their overall job performance.
Hypothesis 2: Just after entry, there will be a positive relationship between competence in the
non-care cluster and overall job performance evaluation provided a novices competence in the
care cluster is high. When competence in the care cluster is low, we expect this relationship to
be negative.

Changes in activity cluster competence over time

The initial period after entering their first job is generally seen as a phase, during which
novices have to learn to perform their jobs effectively and to increase their task-relevant
knowledge, skills and abilities. This implies that novices competence can improve over
time. The fact that the importance for high overall job performance of the various work
activity clusters may differ, could also have consequences for what is learned by novices
and how this is achieved. Important work activity clusters, those that form a central part
of ones job, will be deployed relatively often (Gibson, 2004). This offers newcomers the
opportunity to learn the ropes by imitating their colleagues, and provides
opportunities to evaluate and compare their own competence with those of relevant
others. As a result, they will receive more accurate information about their own
performance, which can be expected to stimulate learning and effective behavioural
self-management (Saks & Ashforth, 1996). Moreover, increasing competence in
important clusters will contribute to uncertainty reduction and to self-esteem (Ramritu
& Bernard, 2001). If care competence is indeed more important for novices job
performance than their non-care competence, then one would expect to see a greater
increase over time in novices reported care competence than in their reported non-care
competence. The time frame that is most commonly used to study such developments
in a nursing context is 12 years (Carnwell & Daly, 2003; Woods, 1999), and, therefore,
we will use a time frame of 18 months.
Hypothesis 3: Initially, novices competence in the care cluster will increase more rapidly than
their competence in the non-care cluster.

The foregoing arguments also suggest that, after a certain time, most novice nurses
will attain what may be called a maintenance stage, where care competence will
become more or less self-evident (Deadrick, Bennett, & Russell, 1997). If the nurses
care competences become high and more similar, it is likely that these competences will
become less useful for senior nurses to discriminate between poor and good performing
nurses, and, thus, will be less informative for determining overall job performance

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464 Eric Molleman and Gerben S. van der Vegt

(Deadrick et al., 1997). This suggests that the relationship between care competence
and the evaluation of a novices overall job performance will weaken over time (see also
Feij et al., 1995).
At the same time, it seems likely that when novices indicate to be sufficiently
competent in providing care, they will feel more secure and self-confident. This will
stimulate them to start to broaden their roles (Bauer et al., 1998; Morgeson et al., 2005;
Morrison, 1994). Such changes may occur not only because the novice actively searches
for new challenges and learning objectives, but also because the expectations of
colleagues and supervisors regarding the novices jobs and tasks may change (Gibson,
2004). Moreover, it is reasonable to assume that provided nurses demonstrate their care
competence, they will obtain more leeway to develop and expand their roles (cf. Berger
et al., 1980). This increases the likelihood that they will be given greater responsibilities,
with the result that competence in work activity clusters that were less important in the
career stages immediately after entry becomes more important in their new roles.
Studies in the field of dynamic job performance do indeed indicate that, as roles develop,
new work activity clusters may become important for high performance (Barrett et al.,
1989; Deadrick et al., 1997). There is no reason why such role development processes
should not also occur in nursing. Indeed, research has shown that, over time, nurses
develop their roles from patient-related tasks to activities for which competence in the
non-care cluster is required (Carnwell & Daly, 2003; Woods, 1999). Noyes (1995) has
argued that if novice nurses get greater clinical experience, then they are better able to
place their job in a wider organizational context and, therefore, their non-care
competence will be more significant in achieving a high overall job performance.
Novices on a nursing ward who have shown to be competent in the care activities
cluster may, for example, be given the new task of mentoring less-experienced nurses or
may be asked to participate in an organizational change project.
Hypothesis 4: After 18 months, competence in the non-care cluster contributes more to a
positive overall job performance evaluation than competence in the care cluster.

Method
Design
We set up a panel of six head nurses to advise us with respect to the design, content and
execution of the study. We used a longitudinal approach and collected data at three
stages: just before entry (T0), 6 weeks after entry (T1) and 18 months after entry (T2).
Such a time-span is not unusual in socialization studies (for an overview, see Bauer et al.,
1998) and was also supported by our panel of head nurses. At T0 and T2, the novices
completed a questionnaire. The questionnaires included items that referred to the way
they perceived their own competence in the care and non-care clusters. At T1 and T2,
three senior colleagues, including the head nurse and the nurse who was assigned to
mentor the novice, were asked to evaluate the performance of the novice. We chose to
measure self-assessed competence in both clusters just before entry (T0), rather than
after a short period (e.g. T1), because research has shown that the entry phase is quite
stressful and this can make novices feel uncertain and doubt their own competence,
which is then likely to result in biased survey responses (cf. Fisher, 1985; Moreland &
Levine, 1980; Morrison, 1994). Naturally, we could not ask senior nurses to evaluate the
performance of the novice nurses before entry. However, we wanted to make the
interval between T0 and T1 as short as possible and our panel of head nurses indicated

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Performance of novices 465

that 6 weeks after entry was the earliest date to make reliable performance assessments
(see also Bauer et al., 1998). At T1 and T2 the novices were interviewed as part of the
regular human resource management policy of the hospitals personnel department. We
took advantage of this by adding, to the standard interview protocol, some open-ended
questions pertaining to the mastery and use of the two identified work activity clusters
and to the social integration process in general. Transcriptions of this part of the
interview were sent to the researchers. Some of these are used as illustrative examples in
the Results section.
Respondents
The study was conducted in the early 1990s in a university hospital in the Netherlands
with just over 1200 beds. All the novice nurses with less than 3 months work experience
after completing their vocational training (N 97) were asked to participate in the study.
These novices entered the hospital over a period of 19 months. Five novices refused to
participate in the study or did not respond to any of the questionnaires. The response rate
was 86 at T0 and 68 at T2. Consequently, depending on which time interval is included in
a specific analysis, the number of observations differs to some extent. The most common
reasons for non-response were unknown (12) having moved to another ward (8),
resignation (6) and sickness (2). Multivariate analyses of variance revealed that nonresponse was not significantly related to age, gender, department (e.g. surgery, internal
medicine) or to any of the other study variables. Our response rates are not unusual for
longitudinal studies in healthcare settings. Adkins (1995) and Fisher (1985), for example,
report response rates of 74 and 71%, respectively, in the final round of their studies, some
69 months after the first. The mean age of the novices in our study was 22.8 years
(SD 2:73) and just over 85% were female. The wards where the novices started working
were: Surgery (N 21), Internal Medicine (N 20), Gynaecology and Obstetrics
(N 24), Paediatrics (N 8), Neurology (N 9) and other specialties (N 15). We
received assessments of 84 novices from at least one senior colleague at T1, and at T2 we
received evaluations of 60 novices1.
Measures
Competence in specific work activity clusters
This variable was measured by asking novices to indicate to what extent they had
mastered each of the 16 activities (from 1 not at all to 5 very well) that were
identified as relevant in a previous study in the same setting2. Since competences refer to
the potential to perform well and are generally not directly observable, we have chosen to
make use of self-report measurements. Such measurements have shown to be relatively
good proxies of true competences (Spenner, 1990). An exploratory factor analysis
revealed four unrotated factors with eigenvalues above 1 (4.93, 1.99, 1.37 and 1.20).
Cattells SCREE test gives the best indication for the number of factors to retain (Ford,
MacCallum, & Tait, 1986; Zwick & Velicer, 1982) and this suggested a two-factor solution
that explained 43.24% of the variance. The loadings after varimax rotation are presented
1

More precisely, at T1 we received 1 evaluation for 1 novice, 2 evaluations for 28 novices and 3 evaluations for 55 novices,
which in total sums up to 222 evaluations by senior staff (i.e., 1 1 2 28 3 55). At T2 we received 1 evaluation for 6
novices, 2 evaluations for 48 novices and 3 evaluations for 6 novices, which sums up to 120 (i.e., 6 1 2 48 3 6).
2
The results of this validation study are reported in Aukes, Baving, and Molleman (1987). Additional information can be
obtained from the lead author.

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466 Eric Molleman and Gerben S. van der Vegt

in Table 1. The items loading on the first factor reflect the non-care activities and those
loading on the second factor pertain to care activities. Although some of the specific items
might be more relevant for some wards than for others, our panel of head nurses agreed
that these items did have a general relevance. Further, for our study, we are not interested
in investigating differences between wards. To see whether the factor structure at Time 2
replicated the structure at Time 0, we correlated the factor loadings at Time 0 with the
loadings at Time 2 (see, for example, Van der Vegt & Janssen, 2003, for a more elaborate
explanation of this procedure). For the first factor (non-care) this correlation was 0.80
(N 16, p , :001) and for the second one the correlation was 0.69 (N 16, p , :01),
providing evidence for the invariance of the factor structure over time. Values of
Cronbachs as for the scales measuring care competence were 0.79 at T0 and 0.68 at T2.
The scale measuring non-care competence had a :82 at T0 and.63 at T2.

Table 1. Factor analysis: items that had a high loading (shown italics) on the same factor were assigned
to the same scale
Item
Inform a patient about a coming unpleasant medical examination
Change an infusion
Care for a patient with a pressure sore
Help a patient to cope with anxiety
Talk with a patient about the consequences of illness and treatment
Monitor heart rhythm and blood pressure
Inform a patients family about a patients condition
Update a patients file
Motivate colleagues to participate in a ward change project
Contribute to the design and organization of the ward
Discuss professional developments with colleagues
Comment on a colleagues behaviour towards a patient
Contribute to the introduction of innovative work methods
Contribute to a study on optimizing patient admissions
Contribute to the development of healthcare quality policies
Express a view on the functioning of the ward

Non-care

Care

0.04
0.13
0.05
0.24
0.23
0.14
0.27
0.03
0.71
0.73
0.69
0.68
0.62
0.61
0.57
0.49

0.74
0.71
0.62
0.61
0.58
0.58
0.56
0.52
0.14
0.11
2 0.06
0.10
0.35
0.18
0.16
0.35

Overall performance evaluation

Since no adequate performance evaluation measure was available for this specific group
of nurses, a new scale had to be developed. Evaluating overall performance by using more
of a distal measure than specific performance items is recommended by several authors
and, further, helps to distinguish our rather specific competence predictors from our
performance evaluation measure (see, for example, Bauer & Green, 1998; Sturman,
2003). In co-operation with our panel of head nurses, we established an inventory of
criteria that define high-standard nurse performance. Then, in a series of extensive
discussions with these same head nurses, a scale with six overall performance evaluation
items was created. The items referred to dedication, communication, self-reliance,
demonstrating accountability, administrative work and planning of work. Overall
performance evaluation was measured by asking up to three senior colleagues (including
the novices mentor and the head nurse) to indicate how satisfied they were with the
novices performance in terms of these six global performance items (from 1 very

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Performance of novices 467

dissatisfied to 5 very satisfied). For T1, the inter-rater reliability (rWG, see James,
Demaree, & Wolf, 1984) for the set of six parallel items varied from 0.87 to 1.00
(M 0:99, SD 0:01) and for T2, the range was 0.971.00 (M 0:99, SD 0:01),
indicating that the scores of the individual raters could be combined. Next, for every
novice the evaluation scores were averaged for each of the six items, separately for T1 and
T2. After that we conducted an exploratory factor analysis on the six averaged items. The
eigenvalues of the first two unrotated factors were 4.45 and 0.65 for T1, and 4.59 and 0.52
for T2, clearly supporting a one-dimensional solution. The values of Cronbachs a for the
overall performance evaluation scale were 0.93 at T1 and 0.94 at T2.

Results
Descriptive statistics and correlations
Table 2 presents the means, standard deviations and Pearson zero-order correlations
among the variables in this study. This shows that the competences in the care and noncare clusters, measured at both T0 and T2 were only moderately related to each other
(Pearsons r between the two clusters was .43 at T0 and .35 at T2). Moreover,
the autocorrelations between the competence clusters were 0.53 for care and 0.26 for
non-care. Off-diagonal correlations were 0.14 and 0.22, thereby showing discriminant
validity.

Table 2. Means, standard deviations and intercorrelations of the study variables

M
(1)
(2)
(3)
(4)
(5)
(6)
(7)
(8)

SD

(1)

(2)

(3)

(4)

(5)

(6)

(7)

Gender
1.86 0.35
Age
22.81 2.73
0.03
Care competence T0
4.22 0.53 20.03 2 0.05
Non-care competence T0 3.46 0.61 20.01 0.02 0.43***
Care competence T2
4.51 0.33
0.11 2 0.11 0.53*** 0.22
Non-care competence T2 3.49 0.48
0.10 2 0.13 0.14
0.26*
0.35**
Performance rating T1
3.91 0.51
0.01 2 0.05 0.35**
0.13
0.32* 0.09
Performance rating T2
4.12 0.58
0.14 2 0.09 0.02
20.07 2 0.06 0.19 0.39**

Notes. For gender, male was coded as 1 and female as 2.

T0 pre-entry; T1 6 weeks after entry; T2 18 months after entry.
*p , :05; **p , :01; ***p , :001.

Testing the hypotheses

Hypothesis 1 states that novices care competence is a stronger predictor of their overall
job performance evaluation than their non-care competence. We carried out hierarchical
linear regression analyses using novice performance rated by senior staff 6 weeks after
entry as the dependent variable, and self-evaluated competence in the two-work activity
clusters just before entry as the predictor variables. Column 2 in Table 3 shows that care
competence was significantly related to the performance rated by senior staff, whereas
non-care competence was not. Moreover, the difference between the two regression
weights was significant (t 3:94, df 68, p , :001). The beta weight for care
competence indicates that the higher the claimed competence in this cluster, the more
positively their performance was evaluated by senior colleagues. This supports

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468 Eric Molleman and Gerben S. van der Vegt

Table 3. Regression of performance by senior staff (T1, 6 weeks after entry) on care and non-care
competence and their interaction term (T0, just before entry)
Predictors (T0)
Gender
Age
Care competence
Non-care competence
Care Non-care competence
F
Model R2
R2 Change

Step 1 (df 4, 68)

Step 2 (df 5, 67)

2 0.02
0.04
0.38**
2 0.05

20.07
0.04
0.43**
0.02
0.22*
2.49*
0.16**
0.04*

2.37*
0.12*
0.12*

Note. Beta weights are presented; *p , :05; **p , :01 (one-tailed tests).

Hypothesis 1. During the interviews 6 weeks after entry, the novices also stressed the
importance of care competence, which is illustrated by the following quotes:
Patient care is such a central issue and valued so much by colleagues that I first want to
meet their expectations in this field. Other sides of the profession are completely secondary
at this moment.
Possessing practical caring skills is what primarily counts when the head nurse evaluates
my performance.
The best way to become a full team member is to show your team mates that you make a
good contribution to patient care.
Practical experience is what really counts in my job.

Hypothesis 2 states that there will be a positive relationship between non-care

competence and overall job performance evaluation if a novices care competence is
high. Conversely, if a novices competence in the care cluster is low, then we expect this
relationship to be negative. To test this interaction effect we followed the procedure
recommended by Aiken and West (1991): (1) standardize the predictors to reduce
multicollinearity between these variables and their interaction term, (2) multiply the
two variables to calculate their interaction term and (3) include the main effect in the
model to prevent a biased estimate of the interaction effect. The third column in Table 3
shows that, after including the main effects in the regression model, the interaction
between care and non-care competence is significant.
To interpret the pattern of the interaction effect, we plotted the relationship between
non-care competence and performance rated by senior staff for individuals with low (1 SD
below the mean) and high (1 SD above the mean) levels of competence in the care cluster,
following the procedures outlined by Aiken and West (1991). Figure 1 shows that for
those novices who score high on competence in the care cluster, higher scores on noncare competence are associated with more favourable performance evaluations. For
novices with a low score on competence in the care cluster, non-care competence is
negatively related to performance evaluations. Thus, these results support Hypothesis 2.
The following quotes from the interviews 6 weeks after entry reflect the abovementioned findings:
I have to improve my clinical knowledge and skills to make my colleagues value my work. It
makes no sense to interfere in other matters if the quality of the care you provide is

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Performance of novices 469

Figure 1. Relationship between non-care competence and performance evaluations for novices who
score low and high on care competence.
insufficient. Most patients we care for have very serious physical problems and you wont
be taken seriously if, for example, you do not know how to deal with all types of drains and
infusions.
If you cannot fulfil the patients basic care needs you are missing the essence of working
here. Once you can adequately take care of the patients, there is leeway to explore and
develop other sides of the work.
Last week I made suggestions how to improve teamwork. My peers didnt appreciate that at
all. They simply sent me back to work.
Deep inside, I have many ideas about how to improve our work setting. However, I find it
risky to suggest them now.

Hypothesis 3 states that, initially, novices care competence increases more rapidly than
their non-care competence. A multivariate analysis of variance with competence in both
activity clusters (two levels: care and non-care) and time (two levels: just before entry
and after 18 months) as factors showed a significant main effect for work activity
clusters (F1; 61 250:32, p , :001), a significant main effect for time
(F1; 61 9:65, p , :01) and a significant work activity cluster time interaction
effect (F1; 61 11:96, p , :001). The main effect of work activity clusters reflected
that, regardless of the measurement time, novices reported possessing more care
competence (M 4:35) than non-care competence (M 3:47). The main effect of time
was that novices assessed their overall competence level more favourably at T2 (4.03)
than at T0 (3.84), indicating an overall learning effect. Finally, the time work activity
cluster interaction effect indicates that the competences in the two specific activity
clusters change at different rates over time. Paired t tests showed that novices perceived
their care competence to have increased substantially over time (t 5:48, df 61,
p , :001), whereas their perceived non-care competence did not change significantly
over the 18 months (t 0:70, df 61, ns). These results support Hypothesis 3. The
following quotes illustrate how novices expressed themselves on this point during the
interviews, 18 months after entry (T2):
The first months were extremely exhausting. I had just left my parents house, and my
family and friends were far away. Everything was new and at the end of each day I was
completely exhausted. To make me feel secure during this first period, I only focused on
mastering direct patient care activities. At that time I had no other concerns. Now I have
mastered all the regular patient care activities relevant to the ward.

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470 Eric Molleman and Gerben S. van der Vegt

If I look back, I really started as a greenhorn. I am glad I concentrated on clinical practice.
What nursing school had taught me in that field was really rudimentary. I have learned a
lot and I think that patients see that I am now a competent nurse.
School gave me a thoroughly professional attitude. In order to survive in actual practice
however, I set most of these ideas aside and focused upon patient care.

In Hypothesis 4 we stated that 18 months after entry, competence in the non-care

cluster contributes more to a positive overall job performance than competence in the
care cluster. To test this hypothesis we carried out hierarchical linear regression analyses
using novice performance rated by senior staff 18 months after entry as the dependent
variable, self-evaluated competence in the two work activity clusters at that time as the
predictor variables, and gender and age as control variables. The weight for non-care
competence was .23 and for care competence it was 2 .13. These weights differ
significantly (t 2:60, df 55, p , :05). This supports Hypothesis 4. The following
quotations illustrate our findings relating to Hypotheses 4:
In my first year I found it difficult to give feedback to colleagues. Now I feel much more
confident in doing so.
I dont feel like a novice anymore. What really counts now is to be a reliable and trusted
colleague who contributes to all issues that are relevant for our ward.
During the first months I was completely focused on myself. My main concern was to do
my job properly. When colleagues assisted me I experienced it as a personal failure. Now I
value that I can help team mates and that they help me. There is mutuality and I have
become a respected team player who is allowed to come up with good ideas to improve our
work.
Recently I have organized a meeting to discuss our team functioning. A year ago that would
have been completely out of order

Exploratory analyses
Playing the role of the devils advocate, one could argue that the above findings were
influenced by our decision to apply Cattels SCREE test to determine the appropriate
number of factors and to extract only two factors. The use of alternative criteria (e.g. the
Kaiser criterion; see, for example, Zwich & Velicer, 1982) might have favoured a
solution with three or four factors and could have resulted in different findings. In order
to address this possibility, we explored the relevance of the three- and four-factor
solutions, and the possible consequences for our results and conclusions.
When we tried a three-factor solution, the non-care factor remained the same (i.e.
the first factor in Table 1), whereas the care items split into two factors with four items
in each. The first of these two factors included the items related to communication
issues (e.g. Inform a patient about a forthcoming unpleasant medical examination) and
the second factor covered the items related to technical competences (e.g. Change an
infusion). The reliabilities of these two scales were 0.74 and 0.67, respectively. If we
opted for a four-factor structure, then the non-care and communication factors
remained unchanged, while the four technical items split further into two factors.
However, the fourth factor included only one item (Update a patients file). Given this
result, we concluded that it was only sensible to test the hypotheses using the scales
resulting from the three-factor solution.
When testing our hypotheses using the technical competence and communication
competence scales instead of the original care competence scale, the results for
Hypotheses 1, 3 and 4 remained essentially the same or became somewhat stronger.
That is, in all of the regression analyses, the beta weights for the communication and

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Performance of novices 471

technical competences scales were very close to those of the original care competence
scale. For Hypothesis 2, however, the findings were somewhat different: the beta
weights for the interaction of non-care competence with technical competences and
with communication competences were 0.33 (p , :05) and 0.18 (p , :10),
respectively, compared with 0.22 (p , :05) for the original care competence scale.
Overall, however, given the small differences between these and our original findings,
we have concluded that our decision to apply Cattels SCREE test has not substantially
influenced our conclusions, and that the two-factor solution, resulting in the most
parsimonious set of results, was valid.

Discussion
The goal of this study was to examine the relationships between novices competence in
specific work activity clusters, learning and the evaluation of their overall performance.
We found that, 6 weeks after entry, novices care competence contributed more to a
positive performance evaluation by the senior staff than their non-care competence.
Being able to contribute substantially to the care of patients may make a novice feel
confident and valued. Moreover, it may instantly ease the workload of colleagues and
add to team performance, which is likely to be highly appreciated by ones team mates.
Additionally, we found that, 6 weeks after entry, the effect of non-care competence
on a novices performance evaluation was linked to their care competence. Our results
show that for novices whose care competence is relatively low, there is a negative
relationship between non-care competence and performance evaluation, whereas this
relationship is positive if they have high levels of care competence. Since making use of
non-care competence entails the expression of ideas, opinions and criticism, it is
possible that colleagues will not appreciate such behaviour shortly after entry if the
novice lacks competence in the field of patient care, because it challenges the status
quo that is deeply anchored in the norms and value systems of the ward. It seems that as
long as one is unable to help patients adequately, giving feedback to colleagues or
bringing up ideas or suggestions regarding working methods will be negatively valued.
Consistent with our expectations, our findings also revealed that the importance of
competence in the specific work activity clusters changed over time. First of all, we
found that novices reported a greater increase in their care, than in their non-care
competence. It seems that novices focus on learning care activities because gaining
competence in this cluster of activities most reduces uncertainty and enhances feelings
of self-confidence. Moreover, it is especially care competences that contribute directly
to ward performance with respect to the primary task, i.e. patient care.
We predicted and indeed found that the relative contribution of competence in
specific activity clusters to performance evaluations changes over time. Our results
showed that while 6 weeks after entry care competences contribute more to a positive
performance evaluation than non-care competences, 18 months after entry we found
the opposite, i.e. competence in the non-care cluster contributes more to a positive
performance evaluation than competence in the care cluster. Eighteen months after
entry, competence in the care activity cluster may have become self-evident and,
therefore, may be no longer predictive of overall performance.
Practical implications
Our findings may have several practical implications. Our study makes clear that
acquiring knowledge, skills and abilities in the area of patient care during the initial

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472 Eric Molleman and Gerben S. van der Vegt

vocational training of nurses is critical. Once novices have shown competence in this
area, they will get leeway to demonstrate competence in other work activity clusters, or
to move to other occupational roles in which other work activity clusters are more
important. Although patient care activities might be the major concern of nursing
schools, we would not want the reader to infer from our findings that other areas are
unimportant. Other activities, such as managerial and professional development, form
an integral part of the nursing profession. Adequate basic knowledge and skills in these
areas may be necessary in later stages of nurses careers. Care competences are
immediately relevant, but are also likely to be rather context-specific so that it is nearly
impossible to learn all possible care competences for all possible health care settings
during initial vocational training. On-the-job learning of several of the care competences
seems inevitable and to some extent such additional on-the-job training might be
required again if nurses move to another ward or health care setting in a later stage of
their careers. The value of competence in non-care areas is less context-dependent and
can be more easily transferred to other role settings (Cunningham, 1996; Tschan & Von
Cranach, 1996). Therefore, learning about and mastering activities in other areas than
patient care during initial vocational training remains useful.
Nevertheless, it seems important to develop realistic expectations about a nurses
first job (see, for example, Dean & Wanous, 1984; Meglino & DeNisi, 1988) and to clarify
during the initial training of nurses that, when they do start work, it is wise to focus
primarily on patient care and to set aside their competences in other areas for use at a
later stage. If they approach work in this tactical way, novices might move more
smoothly through the initial stages of working life, and the amount of time required from
their supervisors and mentors for successful socialization might decrease, thereby
enhancing both performance and satisfaction. This might also reduce the number of
novices leaving the profession and so save time and money.

Theoretical implications
The results of this study contribute to knowledge in the field of organizational and
occupational psychology in several ways. First, our study contributes to the
performance evaluation literature by showing that the interrelationship between
competence and the evaluation of a novices performance is complex. Most previous
performance evaluation studies have not considered the role of specific knowledge,
skills and abilities, nor have they examined the changing importance of particular work
activity clusters over time (Chao, Olearykelly, Wolf, Klein, & Gardner, 1994; Saks &
Ashforth, 1997). Our study shows that competences in different work activity areas may
jointly affect the evaluation of a novices performance. Moreover, our findings suggest
that, possibly due to learning effects, the predictive power of some activity clusters
changes over time and that, as a result, the relationship between competence in specific
activity clusters and performance evaluation is not constant.
Second, our results have implications for the socialization literature. Although there
are many factors that affect the socialization of newcomers, it is clear that one of the
factors that plays an important role is the mastery of job-relevant competences (for
overviews, see Bauer et al., 1998; Saks & Ashforth, 1997). For example, Fisher (1986)
posited learning to perform the required work task is obviously a critical part of
socialization (p. 107). Haueter et al. (2003) have shown the importance of task
socialization, which they define as acquiring task knowledge, learning how to perform
relevant task behaviours and learning how to interact with others in the course of

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Performance of novices 473

performing specific tasks (p. 24). Our study shows that it is important for newcomers to
realize that in the first period after entrance, some competences might be more
important than others and contribute more directly to their overall performance. So,
being aware which competences are most important during different socialization
phases seems to be very important for newcomers. Also from a managerial perspective,
our insights may help to develop interventions directed to the socialization of
newcomers such as training programmes and mentorship policies.
Third, our results are important for theory and research dealing with extra-role
behaviour in organizations (e.g. Miles, Borman, Spector, & Fox, 2002). Extra-role
activities are generally considered to be positive and desirable for organizational
effectiveness. However, it has been indicated that such activities are sometimes also
perceived as counterproductive (Miles et al., 2002; Sackett, 2002; Staw & Boettger,
1990; Wrzesniewski & Dutton, 2001). Consistent with this evidence, our study suggests
that extra-role activities of nurses in terms of non-care competences will be valued only
if their care activities are positively evaluated. Newcomers will have to acquire credit by
showing high-quality in-role activities before extra-role efforts are appreciated (see also
Werner, 1994).
Finally, authors who have used a social information-processing approach to role
theory have indicated that there is no clear boundary between in- and extra-role activities
and that roles are socially constructed phenomena that may change over time (Morrison,
1994; Tepper et al., 2001; Wrzesniewski et al., 2003). Role development entails that roles
are redefined and that activities that were considered to be extra-role or even
counterproductive before, become in-role and valued (Morrison, 1994). The findings
from our study support such a dynamic view on role development. It is likely that when
novices have learned to master the in-role activities adequately, they will feel more secure
and less uncertain, which may enhance perceptions of self-efficacy and self-esteem (e.g.
Ramritu & Barnard, 2001). Our findings suggest that this makes them eager to start to
broaden their roles (Bauer et al., 1998; Morgeson et al., 2005; Morrison, 1994).

Strengths and limitations

We would argue that our study has several strengths. First, we used self-reporting to
assess competence and ratings by senior staff to measure performance, thereby
reducing the likelihood of mono-method bias. Further, using both qualitative and
quantitative information contributed to our understanding of the role of competence in
specific work activity clusters and the evaluation of overall job performance. Moreover,
the longitudinal design of our study helped in gaining a better insight into the dynamic
nature of the relationship between competence in specific work activity clusters and
the evaluation of performance. And finally, our focus on one particular occupational
group enabled us to examine the role of novices competence in a more specific way
than it is possible in a more general study. As Saks and Ashforth (1997, p. 270) stated
most past socialization research has lumped together different occupational groups
and according to them, targeting specific occupations will contribute to the elaboration
of the socialization literature.
Apart from these strengths, our study inevitably has a few limitations. First, the care
and non-care competences of novices were only measured using self-reporting
instruments. It would have been better if we had used more-objective measures of their
competence in specific work activity clusters. The addition of assessments by peers or
supervisors, for example, might help to improve the measurement of competences.

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474 Eric Molleman and Gerben S. van der Vegt

Second, with respect to the outcome variables, we included only one measure: the
overall performance evaluation of a novice. In future research, it might be useful to
include other outcome variables, such as job satisfaction, acceptance by the group and
intention to stay or leave. Third, the number of respondents in this study was rather
small. However, obtaining large samples of one particular and highly specific
occupational group is difficult. Fourth, although the main purpose of the interviews
was to support the novices in becoming full and respected members of the organization,
it is possible that some novices felt constrained by the HR-mandated nature of the
interview. Since we have used the qualitative data only for illustrative purposes, this
might be less critical. Finally, although we found that competence can develop over
time, we did not investigate the possible underlying mechanisms. It might, for example,
well be that changes in role content or changes in performance expectations affect the
development of certain competences and might also explain the dynamic relationship
between a specific competence and performance evaluation. Such underlying
mechanisms would be an interesting subject for future research.
Although the generalizability of our findings is, strictly speaking, limited to hospital
nurses, it is nevertheless relatively easy to imagine how similar processes might occur in
other occupational groups. For example, for mechanics entering their first job, the
ability to diagnose and repair engine defects is likely to be more relevant and critical
than possessing good communication skills or having an insight into the automotive
market. Of course, the ability to communicate to the owner of a car, the details of a
problem and the necessary repairs may become important, but these skills are rather
meaningless if one does not have the competence to diagnose the defects in the first
place. Similarly, knowledge of the automotive market might become an important
competence at a later stage of mechanics careers, if they become involved in sales
activities. To give another example, it is critical for a young academic to have writing
skills and to be able to retrieve the relevant literature. The competence to write highquality review reports, however, will be less relevant during the initial stage of such a
career. Such generalizations from our findings are, however, only speculative and
require further support. Therefore, future research should examine similar relationships
to those described in this article using occupational groups from other industries.
Conclusion
The performance of relative novices and new employees without work experience is
crucial in determining organizational effectiveness. Focusing first on the competence of
novices in the most important work activity clusters, and only later on others, will ease
their socialization and may have positive and lasting effects on learning and adjustment,
person-job fit, person-organization fit, job satisfaction and performance (Haueter et al.,
2003: 21). The findings of our study suggest that taking into account the relative
importance of specific work activity clusters, and also the changes in their importance
over time, may help novices, as well as their managers, in facilitating the process of
becoming a full and valued member of the organization.

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Received 15 September 2005; revised version received 31 August 2006