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The present field study investigates whether rater‐ratee similarity in the Big Five personality factors influences peer ratings of contextual work behaviors. It overcomes problems that previous studies have had by using a polynomial regression analysis and by correcting the potential biases from nonindependence. Using more than 500 peer dyads, we found that rater‐ratee similarity in Conscientiousness, but not in other dimensions, was positively associated with peer ratings even after controlling for interpersonal affect. These results suggest that the observed effect of personality similarity may reflect actual behavioral differences rather than biases due to interpersonal affect. Implications of the findings are discussed along with recommendations for future research.

We investigated whether rater affect has a similar effect on the leniency of ratings from three of the sources of 360-degree feedback (downward, upward, and peer) and whether there is an interaction between a rater’s affect and the time he or she has spent observing the ratee. The findings indicate that the influence of rater affect on the leniency of ratings was significantly greater in upward and peer feedback than in downward feedback and that the influence increased as raters’ observation time increased.

Social comparison plays an important role in collective bargaining. However, due to self-serving bias, the bargaining parties rarely agree on appropriate referents. In this respect, Wisconsin teachers’ collective bargaining provides an intriguing case because there is consensus on an appropriate comparison group: the schools’ athletic conferences. The purpose of this study is to examine whether the use of athletic conferences as referents is institutionalized beyond their technical merits. Using conference realignment as a natural experiment, this paper shows that when the bargaining parties experienced conference realignment, they changed their comparison groups. Because this realignment can be regarded as exogenous to collective bargaining, such changes in comparison groups are unlikely to be accounted for by technical factors, thus providing support for institutional theory.