A FIELD-STUDY OF PERFORMANCE-APPRAISAL PURPOSE - RESEARCH-BASED VERSUS ADMINISTRATIVE-BASED RATINGS

Many researchers have discussed the theoretical and practical importan ce of rating purpose. Nevertheless, the body of empirical studies, the majority of which were conducted in a laboratory setting, focus on le niency. There has been little research on other effects of rating purp ose, The present study examines 223 ratees in a field setting for whom there were both administrative-based performance appraisal ratings (w hich were actually used for personnel decisions) and research-based pe rformance appraisal ratings (obtained for a validation study). Two of the hypotheses were supported; administrative ratings were more lenien t than research-based ratings. The administrative-based ratings demons trated a statistically significant relationship with ratee seniority, while the research-based ratings did not. There was mixed support for a third hypothesis: Research ratings were significantly correlated wit h a predictor, while the administrative ratings were not. The differen ce between the validity coefficients, however, was not significant. Co ntrary to the hypothesis, the rank order between administrative-based and research-based ratings was relatively high (r = .58).