A Comparison of an Actuarial and a Linear Model for Predicting Organizational Behavior

Abstract

Using an actuarial and a linear model for pre dicting organizational behavior, employee sub groups were identified through a hierarchical and convergent clustering of assessment variable profiles in a validation sample (N = 2,899) and cross-val idated by assigning a holdout sample (N = 2,899) to the original subgroups on the basis of a min imum distance qualifier. Subgroup membership in both samples was significantly associated with cur rent employment status and job performance. A linear discriminant function analysis of employment status and a linear regression analysis of job per formance also yielded significant results. A com parison of the two models in terms of predictive ac curacy indicated that the two models were essential ly equivalent. However, it was concluded that the actuarial model was superior to the linear model, since a descriptive and behavioral taxonomy based on stable, homogeneous employee subgroups could be developed.