Relationship between self-rated performance and pay satisfaction among sales representatives

Abstract

Tested E. E. Lawler's (1971) hypothesis that when amount of pay is controlled people who evaluate their own performance highly are less satisfied with their pay. 101 sales representatives completed a questionnaire containing measures of self-perceived performance, pay satisfaction, and other variables. They were also rated on job performance by their supervisors. The partial correlation between self-rated performance and pay satisfaction, holding amount of pay constant, was –.30, thereby supporting the hypothesis. Self-perceived performance was only slightly related to an objective measure of total sales/representative, supervisory ratings of performance, self-perceived age/tenure, or education. When these other variables were also controlled, self-perceived performance still correlated negatively with pay satisfaction. (9 ref) (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved)