The relationship between subjectivity in performance evaluation and managerial performance

This thesis develops and tests a framework examining the relationship between subjectivity in performance evaluation and managerial performance. The framework predicts that subjectivity in performance evaluation is positively associated with psychological empowerment and supervisor-subordinate conflict. As previous studies established a positive association between empowerment and performance, and a negative association between conflict and performance, it is suggested in this thesis that subjectivity in performance evaluation has both positive and negative indirect associations with managerial performance. The investigation was undertaken using a sample of 102 anonymous managers who completed a mail survey. The data analysis was done using Partial Least Squares. This study finds that subjectivity in performance evaluation is a multidimensional construct. Subjectivity was split into two variables: process-based subjectivity and supervisor-based subjectivity. Both variables were related to managerial performance through positive and negative indirect associations. Process-based subjectivity is similar to supervisor-based subjectivity regarding its effect on supervisor-subordinate conflict, but it differs concerning its effect on access to information. This study is important as it investigates the competing effects of subjectivity in performance evaluation upon managerial performance. Further, the findings suggest that supervisor-subordinate conflict and access to information fully mediate the association between subjectivity and psychological empowerment. The contribution of this study to the literature lies in developing a new scale to measure subjectivity in performance evaluation and in providing additional empirical evidence regarding the effects of subjectivity in performance evaluation on managerial performance