Do Employees Prefer to Receive Ratings? The Role of Justice Perceptions and Justice-Related Factors

We empirically investigated whether employees would rather not receive performance ratings, as often claimed by those advocating the elimination of ratings. We also investigated whether rating preference is colored by perceived justice/injustice and whether factors antithetical to positive reactions to ratings-politics, low previous performance rating, and lack of a perceived link between ratings and outcomes-relate to employee rating preference. A survey of working adults indicated that most would rather receive ratings than not. The results also suggest that justice perceptions have a stronger influence on rating preference than injustice perceptions and that the perceived rating-outcome link has an especially robust relationship with rating preference.