Effects of purpose of the appraisal and expectation of validation on self-appraisal leniency.

Abstract

This study examined the effects of purpose of the appraisal and the expectation of validation on selfappraisal leniency. It was hypothesized that self-appraisals conducted under a grading purpose are more lenient than those conducted under a research purpose; self-appraisals obtained under conditions with high expectation of validation are less lenient than those obtained under conditions with low expectation of validation. Using 62 subjects enrolled in two sections of an organizational behavior course, a 2 X 2 factorial experiment was conducted to assess the effect of the purpose of the appraisal and expectation of validation on the amount of leniency in students' self-reports of classroom participation. Both hypotheses were strongly supported in this study. The results were discussed in terms of their relevance and implications for future self-appraisal research. Performance appraisals can be conducted by using supervisor, peer, or self-ratings. Each method has a number of common and unique rating errors (Landy & Farr, 1980). Although extensive research has been conducted to minimize rating errors in supervisor ratings (Latham & Wexley, 1981), very little research has examined the factors that may diminish rating errors in peer or self-ratings. This study examines the factors that may affect the leniency bias of self-appraisals. One factor that may have a direct bearing on the motivation to be lenient is the purpose of the performance appraisal. Performance appraisals can be used for a variety of purposes, which include administrative decisions, personnel development, and personnel research. The motivation to be lenient is likely to be strongest when the self-appraisals are to be used for administrative decisions. In this context, employees tend to inflate self-ratings to attain extrinsic rewards. The motivation to be lenient is probably lowest when self-appraisals are used for personnel research purposes because in this context the obtained appraisals are typically available to researchers only and unlikely to affect future rewards. Previous research on purpose of the appraisal has examined self-appraisal leniency under research conditions only (e.g., Holzbach, 1978; Klimoski & London, 1974). Although these studies reported that leniency occurred in research conditions, they failed to compare the degree of leniency in self-appraisals obtained under different purposes of appraisal. Furthermore, conflicting results were also reported (e.g., Heneman, 1974). Another factor that may affect the motivation to be lenient is the expectation of validation, which refers to the belief that selfreported information will be verified against some other performance measures. A high expectation of validation tends to diminish leniency because the subject may fear punishment for falsifying information. In contrast, self-appraisals conducted with low expectation of validation are more susceptible to leniency error because of the absence of this fear. Research regarding the effects of validation expectation on