Participation in the performance appraisal process and employee reactions: A meta-analytic review of field investigations.

Abstract

The relationship between participation in the performance appraisal process and various employee reactions was explored through the meta-analysis of 27 studies containing 32 individual samples. The overall relationship (p) between participation and employee reactions, corrected for unreliability, was .61. Various conceptualizations and operationalizations of participation and employee reactions also were discussed and analyzed. Overall, appraisal participation was most strongly related to satisfaction, and value-expressive participation (i.e., participation for the sake of having one's "voice" heard) had a stronger relationship with most of the reaction criteria than did instrumental participation (i.e., participation for the purpose of influencing the end result). The results are discussed within the framework of organizational justice.Performance appraisal is frequently performed in organizations for a variety of purposes, including administrative decisions (e.g., raise, promotion), feedback and development, and personnel research. Thus, performance appraisals are among the most important human resource systems in organizations insofar as they represent critical decisions integral to a variety of human resource actions and outcomes (Judge & Ferris, 1993). Because of its prevalence and importance in organizations, performance appraisal is also one of the most widely researched areas in industrial/organizational psychology (Murphy & Cleveland, 1995).Of great concern to scientists and practitioners has been the issue of appraisal effectiveness and its measurement.

Performance Appraisal and Training and Development of Human Resource Management Practices (HRM) on Organizational Commitment and Turnover Intention

“…According to Li and Butler (2004), the confidence of employees in the performance appraisal can be gained by getting them involved in the process of making choices relevant to their tasks. In this way, employees would be able to autonomously participate (self-reported performance) in the overall performance appraisal process and would feel satisfied with the performance appraisal procedure (Cawley, Keeping, & Levy, 1998).…”

Importance of system and leadership in performance appraisal

“…Also, empirical research shows that feedback will only lead to development and improvement of employees when they perceive the feedback as useful (Kinicki, Prussia, Wu, and McKee-Ryan, 2004). Hence, feedback reactions of employees can determine the success and effectiveness of their appraisal process (Cawley et al, 1998) and they are crucial for the acceptance and use of an appraisal system (Keeping and Levy, 2000). In our study, we focus on feedback utility as a dependent variable.…”

“…In this regard, Levy and Williams (2004) suggest more research is needed to specify the effects of participation in the performance appraisal process. Also, Cawley, Keeping and Levy (1998) argue for more research regarding participation in performance appraisal focusing on different types of participation. In their review study, they demonstrated the positive effects of participation during the appraisal process itself (e.g.…”

Getting Rid of Performance Ratings: Genius or Folly? A Debate

“…The fact that rating labels are misused is not a reason to avoid ratings. There is a large research literature in our field on how to improve reactions to performance evaluation (e.g., Bobko & Colella, 1994;Cawley, Keeping, & Levy, 1998;Dipboye & Pontbriand, 1981;Dorfman, Stephan, & Loveland, 1986;Giles & Mossholder, 1990;Ilgen, Peterson, Martin, & Boeschen, 1981;Pichler, 2012;Silverman & Wexley, 1984).…”