THE CONTEXT OF ANTICIPATED PERFORMANCE EVALUATION, SELF-PRESENTATIONAL MOTIVATION, AND PERFORMANCE EFFORT

We tested the usefulness of self-presentational concepts in describing the linkage between the context of an anticipated evaluation and an i ndividual's performance effort. Undergraduate students who performed a complex problem-solving task were told that an outstanding performanc e would result in a better chance at getting a job with the accounting firm that employed the evaluators of their work. Instructions varied the attractiveness of the accounting firm as an employer and the evalu ator's influence over its hiring practices. The subjects' ability to p roduce work that would impress the evaluator was varied by the descrip tion of competitors who were performing the task. Results indicated th at performance effort is directly related to the self-presentational c oncerns of an individual.