Investigating the Emergence of Cognitive Work : Toward A New Job Classification Scheme for Cross-Cultural Environments

Job analysis and its by-product job classification are foundational tools for Human Resource Management. Current job analysis techniques were developed a century ago. In the interim dramatic change has occurred in the structure of the economy and the jobs that define it. Thispaper tests the proposition that a new category of work, i.e. “Cognitive Work,” has emerged. Experiments were performed in two countries to investigate construct validity. One hundred participants completed a coding exercise sorting thirty-nine job descriptions into one of three job categories. Analysis provided preliminary support for the validity of this new classification scheme