Abstract
A study investigating the generalizability of intrinsic position error to an industrial setting where supervisors made performance rankings of subordinates was conducted. Supervisors who were qualified to make judgments were selected to rank-order lists of 5 and 10 subordinates on over-all job performance, further broken down by groups, which were all of average performance and of differing performance levels, i.e., poor to superior. The results indicated that, when supervisors were presented with a longer list (10 names) consisting of subordinates of the same performance level, the postulated intrinsic position error significantly affected rankings. Over-ranking biases were concentrated on the initial ranking position. General implications of the results were discussed.
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