A combination of three factors allows some people to perform at higher levels than others: (1) abilities and other traits, (2) knowledge and skills, and (3) context. Abilities and other traits include such things as cognitive abilities (i.e., intelligence), personality, stable motivational dispositions, and physical abilities. Also, knowledge and skills include job-related knowledge and skills, attitudes, and malleable motivational states.

Declarative knowledge is information about facts and things, whereas procedural knowledge is a combination of knowing what to do and how to do it. Finally, contextual issues include HR policies and procedures, managerial and peer leadership, organizational culture, and resources and opportunities given to employees to perform.

Performance results from a combination of all three factors. Two employees can achieve the same level of performance by having different combinations of factors. For example, one employee can be more motivated and spend more hours at work, whereas another can work fewer hours, but have higher levels of skill. In addition, however, if any of the determinants has a value of 0, then overall performance is unlikely to be satisfactory.

An important difference between abilities and other traits and knowledge and skills is that knowledge and skills are more malleable—meaning that they are easier to change. In general, individual differences that are less malleable are called “traits.” Those that are easier to change, for example, through a training program or other organizational interventions, are called “states.”