Cognitive ability is one of the most robust predictors of job performance and long-term career success. It is also strongly associated with academic achievement, making it a valuable measure in educational settings. Given the close link between academic and workplace performance, high academic achievement can be viewed as an early indicator of employability, reflecting individuals' ability to sustain concentration, acquire specialised knowledge, and develop expertise.
In this context, our research focused on the validation of Cognify, a game-based assessment of general cognitive ability among a sample of South African university students. Originally developed for employee selection, Cognify has shown promise in predicting performance in multiple contexts. However, given South Africa's diverse and complex sociocultural environment, local validation of assessments remains critical to ensure reliability, fairness, and the avoidance of bias.
Using a cross-sectional design with 219 university students, the study examined the reliability and validity of Cognify. Results indicate adequate reliability, strong construct validity, and acceptable model fit, alongside moderate convergent and predictive validity, when compared to Raven's Progressive Matrices. These findings support the utility of Cognify for assessing cognitive ability in university students within the South African context.
The findings provide initial support for the use of Cognify as a cognitive assessment tool among university students in South Africa. While the results are consistent with international research on the psychometric soundness of Cognify, the study highlights the importance of contextual validation in ensuring fairness and equity. Over, the study contributes to global discussions on technology-based assessments by demonstrating both the potential and the challenges of applying game-based measures in diverse cultural contexts.