Halo and performance appraisal research: a critical examination

Article Abstract:

The different conceptual and operational definitions of halo are reviewed, and problems when using halo as a dependent measure in perfromance rating research and practice are pointed out. Four major points are emphasized: (a) There is no agreed on conceptual definition of halo; (b) the different conceptual definitions of halo are not systematically related to different operational definitions (i.e., measures) of halo; (c) halo measures may be poor indexes of rating quality in that different halo measures are not strongly interrelated and halo measures are not related to measures of rating validity or accuracy; and (d) although halo may be a poor measure of rating quality, it may or may not be an important measure of the rating process. The utility of assessing halo to determine the psychometric quality of rating data is questioned. Halo may be more appropriately used as a measure to study cognitive processing, rather than as a measure of performance rating outcome. (Reprinted by permission of the publisher.)

Measurement

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Context effects in performance appraisal: a methodological critique and empirical study

Article Abstract:

The standard design used in research on assimilation and contrasts effects in performance appraisal suffers from methodological flaws that preclude unambiguous interpretation of experimental results. This standard design is compared with two other designs that provide more appropriate tests of context effects (cf Kravitz & Balzer, 1990). Undergraduates (N= 123) rated a videotaped lecture of average quality after rating two videotapes depicting good lectures, (b) two videotapes depicting poor lectures, or (c) no other videotapes. Half the subjects had rated the target videotape 1 week earlier. Analyses of the standard design implied contrast effects. Analyses of the alternative designs revealed problems with the positive context manipulation, assimilation effects in the positive context, contrast effects in the negative context, and pretest effects. It is recommended that the standard design not be used. (Reprinted by permission of the publisher.)

Industrial psychology, Context effects (Psychology), Industrial-organizational psychology

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Meaning and measurement of performance ratings accuracy: some methodological and theoretical concerns

Article Abstract:

We examined methodological and theoretical issues related to accuracy measures used as criteria in performance-rating research. First, we argued that existing operational definitions of accuracy are not all based on a common accuracy definition; we report data that show generally weak relations among different accuracy operational definitions. Second, different methods of true score development are also examined, and both methodological and theoretical limitations are explored. Given the difficulty of obtaining true scores, criteria are discussed for examining the suitability of expert ratings as surrogate true score measures. Last, the usefulness of using accuracy measures in performance-rating research is examined to highlight situations in which accuracy measures might be desirable criterion measures in rating research. (Reprinted by permission of the publisher.)

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