Re-introducing Cognitive Complexity: A Meta-analysis and Agenda for Future Research

Cognitive complexity represents the extent to which individuals cognitively structure and process their environment in a multidimensional manner. Despite over 60 years of research, gaps remain in our understanding of the construct. In this meta-analytic review (k = 74, n = 18,973), we addressed a set of research questions regarding the nomological network surrounding cognitive complexity as well as the incremental validity and relative weight of cognitive complexity over traditional predictors of job outcomes. Cognitive complexity exhibited moderate correlations with constructs like cognitive ability (ρ = .19) and task complexity (ρ = − .18), but performed poorly in relative weights and incremental validity analyses. Given our findings, we suggest provide avenues for future research to explore and present a measure of cognitive complexity to advance the literature.