Relationship Between Managers’ Political Motives In Performance Appraisal Systems And Work Outcomes

Abstract

Managers’ political motives refer to intention of managers to implement motivational and punishment motives in performance appraisal systems. The ability of managers to appropriately implement such political motives in appraising employee performance may have a significant impact on work outcomes (i.e., distributive justice and turnover intention). Although the relationship has extensively been examined, the predicting variable of managers’ political motives is given little emphasis in the performance appraisal research literature. Thus, this study was done to investigate the effect of managers’ political motives in performance appraisal systems on work outcomes. Self-report questionnaires were used to obtain data from employees at a military oriented tertiary educational institution in West Malaysia. The results of SmartPLS path analysis model displayed two essential findings: first, motivational and punishment motives were significantly associated with distributive justice. Second, motivational and punishment motives were insignificantly associated with turnover intention. These findings highlight that managers’ political motives in performance appraisal systems are significant predictors of employees’ distributive justice, and managers’ political motives in performance appraisal systems are not significant predictors of employees’ turnover intention in the selected organization. Further, this study offers discussion, implications and conclusion. Keywords: motivational motive; punishment motive; distributive justice; turnover intention