New research by Stav Atir on how true and self-perceived experts make knowledge judgments was featured in Harvard Business Review (HBR). In an article titled “Competent Leaders Know the Limits of Their Expertise,” Atir, an assistant professor of management and human resources at the Wisconsin School of Business, and her co-author, David Dunning, professor at the University of Michigan, explored the connections between expertise and overestimation of one’s own competence.
The article highlights new research published in the journal Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes. Atir and her co-investigators looked at the phenomenon of overclaiming—asserting knowledge of nonexistent terms. In the studies, respondents rated their knowledge of several financial terms, unaware three were completely made up.
“Of our respondents, 91% overclaimed some knowledge of at least one bogus term, and 60% claimed to know something about all three,” Atir and Dunning stated. “Perhaps surprisingly, those who regarded themselves as finance experts rated their knowledge of them the highest.”
Read the full story in HBR to learn more about the disconnect between feeling like an expert and being one, as well as potential implications for evaluating leaders, team members, or advisors.