The Impact of Rater Personality and Purpose of Appraisal on Performance Ratings

Murphy and Cleveland’s (1995) four-component model of performance appraisal challenges views taken in past literature on the performance appraisal process by portraying it as goal-directed behavior on the part of the rater. This goal-directed behavior is influenced by several factors including rater characteristics and rating context. To my knowledge, no study has assessed the combined impact of rater personality and purpose of appraisal on performance ratings. By utilizing both Murphy and Cleveland’s model and the Socioanalytic Theory of personality (Hogan and Shelton, 1998), the main goal of this study is to uncover a deeper connection between these variables. To assess these relationships, actual developmental and administrative ratings were obtained from 138 managers working in a global consumer products company. Anticipated personality trends in rating behavior are presented based on the Socioanalytic Theory, and it is hypothesized that rater personality will interact with rating context to influence the ratings managers provide to their subordinates. A one-with-many dyadic analysis was conducted to assess these relationships, and partial support was garnered for the hypotheses presented. Although there were no significant main effects of rater personality found, rater Adjustment, Ambition, Sociability, and Learning Approach all significantly interacted with purpose of appraisal to impact ratings in the two settings