Performance evaluation relating to mas decisions: rater age, ratee sex and level of performance

Prior studies examined the effects of rater and ratee on performance-related evaluations (PREs) either individually or in conjunction with one other variable. This study extended the literature by adopting a more complete approach. It examined the interaction effect between rater, ratee and environmental (such as level of performance) variables on PREs. A three-way interaction effect between rater age, ratee sex and level of managerial performance on PREs was predicted. An experiment using two cases — one where the ratee performed successfully and the other where the ratee performed unsuccessfully — was carried out. Fifty-seven participants took part in the experiment. As predicted, when the ratee performed successfully, younger raters demonstrated a sex bias against the female ratee whereas older raters did not. However, when the ratee performed unsuccessfully, neither younger nor older raters exhibited significant female sex bias. Implications of the findings were discussed.