Curvilinear effects of rating discrepancies on psychological control and procedural justice

This research examined how rating discrepancies would influence employees’ psychological control and procedural justice in formal performance appraisal contexts. In a field study employing 109 administrative employees, the data was collected through two online surveys and analyzed by polynomial regression analysis and response surface methodology. As predicted, it was found that rating discrepancies curvilinearly affected employees’ psychological control level and that these curvilinear effects were mediated to further influence the employees’ procedural justice perception. Given that either unfavorable or favorable rating discrepancies were found to deteriorate employee’s perceived control and fairness over performance appraisal processes, it is recommended to prevent providing surprising PA ratings by timely and honest performance appraisal processes.