IMPLICIT STRESS THEORY - AN EXPERIMENTAL EXAMINATION OF THE IMPACT OFRATERS STRESS ON PERFORMANCE-APPRAISAL

We investigated the effects of manipulated stress and implicit stress theory (IST) on performance appraisal. We conducted a 2 (stressed/nons tressed participants) x 2 (high- and low-stress job of protagonists) e xperimental design on a sample of 81 middle-level managers. Managers i n the high-stress jobs were rated as more committed and more burned ou t than managers in the low-stress jobs, as hypothesized. Interactive p atterns demonstrated that stressed respondents evaluated the effective ness of managers in the high-stress jobs as Cower than that of the man agers in the low-stress job. Nonstressed respondents evaluated the eff ectiveness of managers in the high-stress jobs as higher than that of managers in the low-stress jobs. Negative affectivity had no impact on reported stress and performance appraisal.