Performance appraisal: dimensions and determinants

Abstract

Using a sample of Spanish establishments in the manufacturing sector, this article analyses the determinants of the dimensions of performance appraisal. The dimensions examined are performance measures, who evaluates performance and frequency. The results show that the degree of autonomy of the workforce affects positively the use of subjective criteria. It is also more likely that performance appraisal is carried out by the supervisor in the presence of teams and internal promotions. Regarding the explanation of the frequency, teams affect negatively this dimension of performance appraisal.

Keywords:

• Performance appraisal
• organizational context
• dimensions of appraisal
• New Economics of Personnel
• Contextually-Based Human Resource Theory

Notes

1 Other surveys exploring HRM issues have similar or lower response rates (see, for example, Camelo, Martin, Romero, & Valle, 2004; Jirjahn & Poutsma, 2013; Roche & Teague 2011; or Bayo-Moriones, Galdon-Sanchez, & Guell, 2010 for Spain). In addition, this same data set has been previously used in Galdon-Sanchez, Gil, and Bayo-Moriones (2015) and Bayo-Moriones, Galdon-Sanchez, and Martinez-de-Morentin (2013b), among others.

2 The questions of the survey are published in the Appendix of Bayo-Moriones, Galdon-Sanchez, and Martinez-de-Morentin (2017).

3 It is worth noticing that, in our data base, there is information about the establishments that use only objective criteria in performance appraisal, those that use only subjective criteria and those that combine both criteria. However, very few respondents reported to use subjective criteria only (less than seven per cent of establishments using performance appraisal). The low amount of observations in this category does not allow us to perform a regression analysis that differentiates between the three types of establishments. Consequently, we have combined the plants that use only subjective criteria with those using both objective and subjective criteria in one category.

4 Due to space constraints, we have not included the results of the selection equation, the sample selection models and the selection bias tests in the paper. They are available from the authors upon request.

Additional information

Funding

The authors would like to thank Fundación BBVA for funding the survey used in this work. Alberto Bayo-Moriones acknowledges financial support from the Ministerio de Ciencia y Competitividad (project ECO2017-86305-C4-4-R). Jose Enrique Galdon-Sanchez and Sara Martinez-de-Morentin also acknowledge financial support from the Ministerio de Ciencia y Competitividad (project ECO2015-64330-P).