Appraisal Accuracy Research Articles

Comparing modelling performance and evaluating differences of feature importance on defined geographical appraisal zones for mass real estate appraisal

ABSTRACT The features influencing real estate value in different residential areas and cities are important for spatial economic analysis besides high appraisal accuracy. In this study, a methodology was developed for computer-assisted mass real estate appraisal with a case study implemented through the use of big geographical datasets including 121 features and around 200,000 samples of real estate in Istanbul and Kocaeli (Turkey). Prediction models using the random forest technique were developed for five appraisal zones determined with spatially constrained multivariate clustering. With machine learning and mass appraisal metrics, modelling performance improves in appraisal zones with a lower standard deviation expressing real estate value in neighbourhoods. Since importance levels and ranks of features vary in zones, the mass appraisal should be done with a sufficient number of features.

Boosting the Accuracy of Commercial Real Estate Appraisals: An Interpretable Machine Learning Approach.

In this article, we examine the accuracy and bias of market valuations in the U.S. commercial real estate sector using properties included in the NCREIF Property Index (NPI) between 1997 and 2021 and assess the potential of machine learning algorithms (i.e., boosting trees) to shrink the deviations between market values and subsequent transaction prices. Under consideration of 50 covariates, we find that these deviations exhibit structured variation that boosting trees can capture and further explain, thereby increasing appraisal accuracy and eliminating structural bias. The understanding of the models is greatest for apartments and industrial properties, followed by office and retail buildings. This study is the first in the literature to extend the application of machine learning in the context of property pricing and valuation from residential use types and commercial multifamily to office, retail, and industrial assets. In addition, this article contributes to the existing literature by providing an indication of the room for improvement in state-of-the-art valuation practices in the U.S. commercial real estate sector that can be exploited by using the guidance of supervised machine learning methods. The contributions of this study are, thus, timely and important to many parties in the real estate sector, including authorities, banks, insurers and pension and sovereign wealth funds.

The CENTS program: promoting healthy eating by addressing perceived barriers

Objective Nutrition interventions addressing barriers to healthy eating can mitigate concerns regarding poor diet and obesity among college students. Aimed at reducing healthy eating perceived barriers, this investigation employed two mindset change intervention studies. Design First, a nutrition improvement program called CENTS (Cost of Eating Nutritiously during Time as a Student) that disseminated specific information and utilized experiential activities for mindset change was developed and pilot tested using a pre/post study design. Second, using a similar pre/post method, the CENTS program was evaluated in a quasi-experimental design. Main Outcome Measures We examined perceived barriers to healthy eating (e.g. too costly, too much time), fruit and vegetable consumption, and other variables related to healthy eating (e.g. cost estimates, diet attitudes, self-efficacy, sugary foods consumption). Results Results demonstrated some improvement in many outcomes between the two studies. Most noteworthy, the two major perceived barriers of healthy eating (i.e. too expensive, too much time to prepare) dramatically reduced and cost appraisal accuracy improved. Moreover, some attitudes to eat healthy improved and some unhealthy dietary behaviors reduced. Conclusion Using mindset change techniques to address perceived barriers to healthy eating, interventions can promote healthy eating and discourage unhealthy dietary habits among college students.

Individual Differences in Emotional Appraisal during Development: Analysis of the Role of Age, Gender, and Appraisal Accuracy

ABSTRACT Emotional appraisal is the process by which different responses are generated from subjective assessments of different stimuli. Children and adults can react differently to the same stimulus. Emotional appraisal is crucial to define emotional processing and its consequent response rather than the properties of the stimulus itself. Age and gender modulate emotional appraisal during development. This study analyzed emotional appraisal in children aged 4 to 8-years-old. The children’s emotional appraisal responses and the appraisal accuracy to images with positive, negative, and neutral valence be compared between the different age groups, and according to the gender of the participants. About the appraisal accuracy, the comparisons indicated significant differences for positive and negative images according to the age of the participants, with no differences in the appraisal accuracy of neutral images. Differences in appraisal accuracy for negative images were observed between the 4-years-old group compared to the 7- and 8-years-old group, as well as in 5-years-old participants compared to 7-years-old. Significant differences were found for the positive and negative images between girls and boys, but no differences were found for neutral images. Girls had more appraisals accuracy for positive and negative images. This work highlights the importance of analyzing individual differences associated with emotional processing at different stages of development. This interrogates research findings in which emotional appraisal is carried out considering the valence assigned by adults and highlights the need for a methodological approach that includes individual differences in the appraisal of stimuli used during development.

Perceived quality of performance appraisal system and its impact on job performance of employees in Bank of Ceylon

Performance appraisal is an integral part of any organization as it helps organizations ensuring employees are working hard to contribute to achieving the organization’s mission and objectives. The objective of this study was to investigate the impact of performance appraisal system on job performance of employees of Bank of Ceylon in the Northern Province of Sri Lanka. The study was conducted with a sample of 173 employees who are working in Bank of Ceylon in the Northern Province of Sri Lanka. The study employed a survey method and questionnaires were used to collect data. The type of investigation was explanatory in nature and cross sectional according to time horizon. Pearson Product-Moment Correlation and regression analysis were used to test the hypotheses. There are many dimensions to measure the quality of performance appraisal system, however, the current study focused on four dimensions namely fairness of appraisal, appraisal satisfaction, relationship with peers and superiors and appraisal accuracy. The results of the study revealed that perceived quality of performance appraisal system has a positive impact on perceived degree of job performance. Multiple regression analysis revealed that fairness of appraisal and appraisal satisfaction have significant positive impact on job performance whereas relationship with peers and supervisors and appraisal accuracy do not significantly impact job performance. The finding of this study gives an insight to the banking sector to promote the performance of employees through quality of appraisal system.

Individual and socioenvironmental differences in autobiographical emotional appraisal of preschoolers

Emotions are essential processes for integrating events into autobiographical memory. Different children react differently to the same event. The process through which these different responses are generated from subjective evaluations of an event is called emotional appraisal. The main purpose of this study was to analyze the variations in the emotional appraisal of autobiographical events of 4- and 5-year-old children from homes with different socioenvironmental conditions. We compared preschoolers’ emotional appraisal responses with those of their families. The emotional accuracy of the preschoolers was found to differ according to the different socioenvironmental conditions of their homes. Greater appraisal accuracy was observed in the favorable condition, and it was greater for emotional events than for neutral events. Appraisal accuracy also differed with age, with 5-year-olds showing greater appraisal accuracy than 4-year-olds. Therefore, the emotional appraisal of these events may also be affected by age and valence when attributing emotions to personal experiences.

Appraising home purchase appraisals

AbstractHome appraisals are produced for millions of residential mortgage transactions each year. In addition to preventing fraudulent transactions, an important benefit of appraisals when they report a value below the contract price is that they help borrowers renegotiate prices with sellers. However, appraised values are rarely below the purchase contract price: Some 30% of appraisals in our sample are exactly at the home price (with less than 10% of them below it). We construct a simple but intuitive model to explain how appraisers’ incentives within the institutional framework that governs mortgage lending lead to information loss in appraisals (i.e., appraisals set equal to the contract price). We also present new empirical findings relevant to the issue of appraisal accuracy, based on analysis of appraisal and contract price data and analysis of mortgage default patterns. One new finding—that the frequency of appraisal equal to contract price increases at the loan‐to‐value boundaries (notches) typical of mortgage pricing schedules—is, in fact, implied by our model. In addition, consistent with information loss or, more broadly, with the view that appraisals often artificially confirm the contract price, we find that mortgages with appraised value equal to the contract price are more likely to default.

Using the Elaboration Likelihood Model to Explain Performance Appraisal Inaccuracies

Performance appraisal inaccuracy has received research attention partly due to actual job performance explaining a small portion of rating variance. This paper uses the Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM) to explain how and when factors unrelated to job performance will influence the performance evaluation process due to a rater’s lack of ability or motivation. Potential variables affecting rater motivation and ability to accurately assess employee performance are explained via the ELM, and several factors shown in previous research to affect rater accuracy are explained via the ELM framework. Suggestions for future research examining performance appraisal accuracy via the ELM are provided.

Appraisal Accuracy and Automated Valuation Models in Rural Areas

Accurate and unbiased property value estimates are essential to credit risk management. Along with loan amount, they determine a mortgage’s loan-to-value ratio, which captures the degree of homeowner equity and is a key determinant of borrower credit risk. For home purchases, lenders generally require an independent appraisal, which, in addition to a home’s sales price, is used to calculate a value for the underlying collateral. A number of empirical studies have shown that property appraisals tend to be biased upwards, and over 90 percent of the time, either confirm or exceed the associated contract price. Our data suggest that appraisal bias is particularly pervasive in rural areas where over 25 percent of rural properties are appraised at more than five percent above contract price. Given this significant upward bias, we examine a host of alternate valuation techniques to more accurately estimate rural property values.

Logging Evaluation Method for Pore Pressure of Shale Gas Reservoirs- Taking Fuling Area, Sichuan Basin as an Example

Unconventional oil and gas resources, especially shale gas resources have great potential for exploration and development in China. In Shale gas exploration and development process, reservoir pore pressure is a very important parameter, and the pore pressure prediction can improve the appraisal accuracy of project dessert. This paper analyzes several formation pore pressure calculation methods based on logging data, and optimized the “Equivalent depth method”. The preliminary results show that this method can carry out the accurate evaluation on the abnormal high pressure of the shale gas reservoirs of Fuling area with high calculation precision and application potential.

Perceived cognitive difficulties and cognitive test performance as predictors of employment outcomes in people with multiple sclerosis.

Perceived cognitive difficulties and cognitive impairment are important determinants of employment in people with multiple sclerosis (pwMS). However, it is not clear how they are related to adverse work outcomes and whether the relationship is influenced by depressive symptoms. Thus, this study examined perceived and actual general cognitive and prospective memory function, and cognitive appraisal accuracy, in relation to adverse work outcomes. The possible mediating and/or moderating role of depression was also examined. A cross-sectional community-based sample of 111 participants (33 males, 78 females) completed the Multiple Sclerosis Work Difficulties Questionnaire (MSWDQ), Beck Depression Inventory - Fast Screen (BDI-FS), and questions related to their current or past employment. They then underwent cognitive testing using the Screening Examination for Cognitive Impairment, Auditory Consonant Trigrams test, Zoo Map Test, and Cambridge Prospective Memory Test. Perceived general cognitive and prospective memory difficulties in the workplace and performance on the respective cognitive tests were found to predict unemployment and reduced work hours since MS diagnosis due to MS. Depression was also related to reduced work hours, but it did not explain the relationship between perceived cognitive difficulties and the work outcomes. Nor was it related to cognitive test performance. The results highlight a need to address the perceptions of cognitive difficulties together with cognitive impairment and levels of depression in vocational rehabilitation programs in pwMS.

Rater’s Intention Towards Appraising Accurately

The aim of this article is to stimulate thoughts and introduce new prospects to the study of performance appraisal accuracy, especially in the raters’ perspective. It focuses on a relatively understudied aspect of performance appraisal which is raters’ intention towards appraising accurately. In order to understand the application of this aspect, this paper attempts to develop a conceptual framework based on hypotheses of the direct and indirect factors that predict the raters’ intention to appraise accurately. It is hypothesized that the raters’ experience in appraising, raters’ perceived purposes of appraisal, and raters’ perceived information adequacy for appraising will predict the raters’ intention towards appraising accurately by influencing the raters’ attitude towards appraising accurately, raters’ perceived subjective norms towards appraising accurately, and raters’ perceived behavioral control towards appraising accurately. Keywords: performance appraisal accuracy, behavioral intentions, attitudes, perceived subjective norms, perceived behavioral control, background factors

Exploring the factors associated with employees' perceived appraisal accuracy: a study of Chinese state-owned enterprises

Western employment practices have increasingly been used in emerging markets, but little is known about the factors influencing non-Western employees' views regarding Western employment practices. This paper presents a study that investigates the factors associated with Chinese employees' perceived appraisal accuracy. Based on the extant literature, the study tests six aspects of a performance appraisal (PA) system: employees' perceptions of distributive justice, procedural justice, interactional justice, administrative purpose, developmental purpose and the use of multiple raters. A mixed methods approach was used to collect the data; quantitative data collected from a survey were used to test the hypothesized relationships and qualitative data collected from interviews were used to help explain the underlying logic behind the relationships. The results of the hypotheses testing show that employees' perceived accuracy of PA is positively associated with the three types of justice and the two purposes of PA. The findings from the interviews indicate that employees' perceptions of appraisal accuracy are influenced by certain Chinese cultural characteristics and management traditions. The implications of the findings for research and practice are discussed.

Exploring the Factors Associated with Employees’ Perceived Appraisal Accuracy

Western employment practices have increasingly been used in emerging markets, but little is known about the factors influencing non-Western employees’ views regarding Western employment practices. This paper presents a study that investigates the factors associated with Chinese employees’ perceived appraisal accuracy. Based on the extant literature, the study tests six aspects of a performance appraisal system: employees’ perceptions of distributive justice, procedural justice, interactional justice, administrative purpose, developmental purpose and the use of multiple raters. A mixed methods approach was used to collect the data. Quantitative data collected from a survey of 194 Chinese employees were used to test the hypothesized relationships; qualitative data collected from interviews with 8 respondents were used to help explain the underlying logic behind the relationships. The results of the hypotheses testing show that employees’ perceived accuracy of performance appraisal is positively associated with the three types of justice and the two purposes of performance appraisal. The findings from the interviews indicate that employees’ perceptions of appraisal accuracy are influenced by certain Chinese cultural characteristics and management traditions. The implications of the findings for research and practice are discussed.

Managers' motivation to evaluate subordinate performance

PurposeThis paper aims to focus on one of the most frequently cited problems with respect to the performance management process: the prevalence of performance appraisal distortion.Design/methodology/approachThrough semi‐structured interviews with managers, this paper attempts to answer the following question: Which factors influence managers' motivation to distort the performance evaluation ratings of their subordinates?FindingsThis paper offers three main contributions or implications. First, from a methodological point of view, using a qualitative research design to investigate the appraisal of subordinates' performance is useful because it allows us to reduce the gap between research and practice. Second, this study shows that researchers must embrace or integrate various theoretical perspectives (rational, affective, political, strategic, cultural, justice, and symbolic), given that managers' motivation to evaluate subordinate performance cannot be analyzed outside of the social context. Third, from a practical point of view, managers' motivation to evaluate subordinate performance is less about the technique used and more about leadership support, execution, and overall performance culture.Originality/valueTo date, prior research has focused on improving performance appraisal accuracy through experimental research design by emphasizing rating criteria, rater errors, rater training, and the various rating methods. Despite extensive research, very little progress has been made toward improving rater accuracy.

Prevalence and sociodemographic correlates of beliefs regarding cancer risks

Inaccurate beliefs about cancer risk may contribute to unhealthy lifestyle behaviors and poor adherence to recommended screening and prevention guidelines. To address this issue the current study assessed the prevalence and sociodemographic correlates of scientifically unsubstantiated beliefs about cancer risk in a representative sample of the US population. Nine hundred fifty-seven US adults with no history of cancer were surveyed by telephone. The survey included 12 statements about cancer risk, risk factors, and prevention that were framed to be contrary to the consensus of current scientific evidence. Participants were inconsistent in their ability to identify the statements as false, and appraisal accuracy was associated with several sociodemographic characteristics. Five of the 12 misconceptions were endorsed as true by at least a quarter of the respondents, and uncertainty was higher than 15% for 7 statements. At the same time, more than two-thirds of the participants were able to identify 7 statements as false and, on average, respondents endorsed fewer than 3 statements as true. Respondents who were male, older, non-White, less educated, and of lower income were most likely to hold inaccurate beliefs. A notable percentage of the participants in this study hold beliefs about cancer risk at odds with the prevailing scientific evidence. Because the population segments with the least accurate knowledge also bear the greatest burden of cancer, areas for public education and intervention efforts are identified.

Cognitive appraisal accuracy moderates the relationship between injury severity and psychosocial outcomes in traumatic brain injury

Objective:Traumatic brain injury (TBI) frequently results in significant changes in physical, cognitive and emotional status. Outcomes after TBI may be related to accurate appraisal of these changes. This study examined the relationship between cognitive appraisal accuracy and psychosocial outcomes in TBI survivors.Methods: Participants were male and female TBI survivors (n = 103) who were at least 6 months post-injury and a family member of each survivor. Appraisal accuracy was assessed using self- and observer-report measures of perceived cognitive difficulties. Family members also completed a measure of psychosocial function. Hierarchical regression techniques were used to determine whether cognitive appraisal accuracy accounted for a significant proportion of variance in psychosocial outcomes.Results:Study findingsindicated cognitive appraisal accuracy moderated the relationship between injury severity and aspects of psychosocial function.Conclusions:The results suggest that brain injury outcomes may be improved when an individual is able to accurately assess limitations.

Agency problems and hotel appraisal accuracy An exploratory study

The purpose of this paper is to examine agency problems in the hotel appraisal process. The results support the notion that information asymmetry and moral hazard had significant effects on appraised hotel values. The paper examines the differences between appraised hotel values and their sales prices and finds that agency problems help explain the differences. T-tests are used to show that appraised values are significantly less than sales prices during a period of significant information asymmetry surrounding the Tax Reform Act of 1986. Conversely, appraised values are significantly greater than the sales prices during the late 1980s, a period encompassing moral hazard problems for commercial lenders. Three ordinary least-squares regression models are used with time period and lender type as independent variables to explain these differences. Both variables are found to be highly significant in the full regression model.

Performance appraisal process and system facets: relationship with contextual performance.

Because appraisal-related interactions between supervisors and employees may influence more than task performance, the authors considered the potential effects of social and interpersonal processes in performance appraisal on contextual performance. They hypothesized that performance appraisal process and system facets were associated with employees' contextual performance as well as with their perceptions of appraisal accuracy. After controlling relevant variables, they found that appraisal process facets explained variance in contextual performance and perceived accuracy beyond that accounted for by the system facets. However, when the order of entry for the process and system variable sets was reversed, only for perceived appraisal accuracy, as hypothesized, did the system facets account for variance beyond that explained by the appraisal process facets.

Factors influencing employee beliefs that pay is tied to performance

The unique relationship of perceived pay level equity, perceived appraisal accuracy, merit increase satisfaction, trust in supervisor, and trust in top management to employee beliefs that pay is tied to performance was investigated in a sample of 658 managerial, professional, and clerical employees. Pay level equity, merit increase satisfaction, and trust in top management exhibited a significant unique relationship. Post hoc analysis found appraisal accuracy exhibited a significant unique relationship with belief that pay is tied to performance among employees receiving a lower or higher than expected performance appraisal, but not among employees receiving the expected performance appraisal.