Effects of upward accountability and rating purpose on peer‐rater inflation and delay

Procedural influences on peer-rater distortion and delay were investigated in a field experiment. Employees (N=123) of a business information firm were randomly assigned to conditions in a 2 (upward accountability versus no accountability) by 2 (administrative purpose versus research purpose) experimental design. Results revealed evidence for an accountability by purpose interaction on rater delay. Specifically, raters delayed rating their peers when the purpose was research-only and they had to explain their ratings to a supervisor. When the rating purpose was administrative, no differences in delay due to accountability were obtained. We found no effects for upward accountability and rating purpose on peer-rater inflation. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd

Accountability · Developmental psychology · Distortion (music · Economics · Field (mathematics · Inflation (cosmology · Inter-rater reliability · Management · Political science · Rating scale · Supervisor · Communication in Education and Healthcare · Computer Science · Psychology · Accounting · Law · Social Psychology