Premium
Perceived purposes of performance appraisal: Correlates of individual‐ and position‐focused purposes on attitudinal outcomes
Author(s) -
Youngcourt Satoris S.,
Leiva Pedro I.,
Jones Robert G.
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
human resource development quarterly
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.756
H-Index - 65
eISSN - 1532-1096
pISSN - 1044-8004
DOI - 10.1002/hrdq.1207
Subject(s) - psychology , performance appraisal , ambiguity , perception , job performance , social psychology , job satisfaction , applied psychology , test (biology) , management , paleontology , linguistics , philosophy , neuroscience , economics , biology
Performance appraisals have traditionally been directed at individuals, serving either an administrative or developmental purpose. They may serve a role definition purpose as well. This study sought to identify and more broadly define the purposes of performance appraisals to include this role definition purpose. Furthermore, this study examined purposes of performance appraisals as perceived by the role incumbent, as opposed to the stated organizational purposes. The relationships between these perceived purposes with several attitudinal outcomes, including satisfaction with the performance appraisal, job satisfaction, affective commitment, and role ambiguity, are reported. Data from 599 retail service employees were used to test the hypothesized relationships. Results suggested support for a model consisting of three performance appraisal purposes having differential relationships with the outcomes examined, suggesting the purpose of the performance appraisal may influence ratees' perceptions of and attitudes toward their jobs.