Additional evidence of attitudinal influences in performance appraisal

The attitudes of twenty-nine managers toward performance appraisal and towa rd their organization were used to predict differences in mean ratings and measures of discrimination among ratees and performance dimensions. Substan tial multiple correlations were obtained for all three dependent variables (between 32 and 46% of the variance in each measure was explained), and sev eral individual correlations were statistically significant. Raters who sho wed low levels of confidence in the appraisal system, high levels of discom fort, or high levels of instrumental commitment were more likely to provide ratings that were unusually high or that did not discriminate well among r atees and/or dimensions. Raters who showed higher levels of attitudinal com mitment or who perceived more risks associated with distorting ratings tend ed to provide lower ratings and to discriminate among ratees and/or dimensi ons.