Research Notes: Interpersonal Affect and Rating Errors

Abstract

In this article the authors discuss research they conducted that examined the relationship between interpersonal affect and rating errors in employee rating measures. The authors discuss pervious research that has identified some of the typical errors associated with employee rating studies, noting that interpersonal relationships has been a neglected area. The authors examined three groups of raters made up of superiors, subordinates and peers and compared how these groups responded in various areas of rating errors such as leniency, halo effect, range restriction and degree of interrater agreement. The authors hypothesized that increased affect would result in more positive ratings while lower affect would cause more negative ratings. They determine that affect was a meaningful variable.