A Field Study of Rating Conditions and Leniency in Performance Appraisal

Abstract

Performance appraisal ratings of 89 secretarial and clerical employees of a large university were studied. Most recent administrative ratings, used to make personnel decisions, were obtained for all employees. In addition, research ratings were collected under one of two conditions. For approximately half of the employees, confidential ratings were obtained from the employees' supervisors whereby the supervisors were told that only the researchers would see their ratings. For the other half of the employees, ratings were obtained under sharing conditions whereby supervisors were told that copies of their ratings would be sent to their respective employees. As expected, administrative ratings showed relatively more leniency than corresponding confidential research ratings but did not show more leniency than corresponding sharing research ratings. Findings were discussed in terms of the cognitive dynamics which may cause more lenient ratings to occur.