Performance ratings are a critical behavior of study in industrial and organizational psychology. For decades, researchers have sought to... Show morePerformance ratings are a critical behavior of study in industrial and organizational psychology. For decades, researchers have sought to better understand the process managers follow to assign performance ratings. Rating goals have been proposed as the primary mechanism that managers use to determine which performance rating they will assign (e.g. Murphy & Cleveland, 1995; Murphy, 2008). This study investigated the rating goals pursued by sales managers evaluating vignettes of insurance agents using a policy-capturing approach. Rater characteristics, ratee characteristics, and a situational variable were examined to determine the influence of these factors on rating goals. Hypotheses and research questions were analyzed using hierarchical linear modeling, a statistical methodology which accounts for the inherent nesting within rating goals data. Results suggest that significant variability exists within raters and across raters in their endorsement of rating goals and that raters differ in the way they consider performance information in rating goal endorsement. In addition, some characteristics of the rater may influence the rating goals a rater chooses to endorse. Results and implications for future research are discussed. Ph.D. in Psychology, May 2018 Show less
