Though they are intended to reflect employee job performance, performance appraisal ratings are well known to reflect things that are irrelevant to performance. Even more troubling is the fact that the sources of irrelevant information that lead to inaccurate performance ratings are numerous.
Recently, researchers (Spence & Keeping, 2010) identified three often neglected sources of performance rating inaccuracy: (1) Potential consequences of ratings, such as interpersonal conflict, (2) organizational norms, for example, the expectation that everyone receives high ratings, and (3) the advancement of self interests, for example, when a rater’s own performance rating is contingent upon the ratings of their subordinates.
THE RESEARCH STUDY
The authors presented scenarios of a fictitious employee to university alumni in a non-work setting. Their results confirm that all three sources of potential inaccuracy can contribute to performance ratings above and beyond performance itself. Specifically, the results point to several tendencies of performance raters. First, raters are more likely to give higher performance ratings when the norms of the organization are to give uniformly high ratings.
Secondly (and not surprisingly), raters are more likely to give higher performance ratings when their own performance ratings are contingent upon their subordinates’ performance.
Finally, contrary to expectations, the possibility that an employee will confront the rater following a poor performance appraisal leads to lower performance ratings. The researchers suggest that the possibility of confrontation may lead raters to dislike the ratee, leading to a lower performance rating.
PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS
These findings are particularly important for those organizations that have strong norms of providing high ratings across the board. Such norms can ultimately lead to the detriment of the performance appraisal system. Organizations should also consider if (and how) they reward supervisors for providing performance ratings to their subordinates, as self-interests also appears to be a source of rating inaccuracy. This potential problem may be addressed with the use of multi-rater performance ratings, such as 360-degree feedback.
Spence, J.R., & Keeping, L.M. (2010). The impact of non-performance information on ratings of job performance: A policy-capturing approach. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 31, 587-608.
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