The Impact of Territory Difficulty and Self Versus Other Ratings on Managerial Evaluations of Sales Personnel

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Previous research has yielded inconclusive evidence regarding whether territory difficulty information influences evaluations of salesperson performance. Two studies were conducted to assess whether a territory difficulty bias exists. In addition, the research tested for a divergence in performance ratings depending upon whether the evaluation was completed by a salesperson or a sales manager. The results show that, given the right conditions, territory difficulty bias can be overcome, and that previous failures to find territory difficulty effects in similar studies were likely caused by Type II errors. Also, the results indicate that self-ratings do tend to exhibit an upward bias over ratings by others.