Shifting standards and the allocation of zero sum and nonzero sum rewards in the corporate environment.

摘要

This ex post facto study examined the relevance of the shifting standards model to allocation of corporate ratings and rewards. The model postulates that category-specific rating scales in subjective judgments mask the influence of stereotypes, while objective ratings reveal them. Discrepancies between the two ratings thus imply the influence of stereotypes. Subsequent research demonstrated a relationship between objective ratings and zero sum rewards; nonzero sum rewards correlated with subjective ratings. Discrepancies between rewards are similarly indicative of a shifting standards effect. Regression analysis of 415 corporate performance appraisals confirmed the relationship between subjective performance ratings and praise, a form of nonzero rewards. Praise was preferentially allocated to female employees, nonexempt employees, and employees of male supervisors. Analysis of variance demonstrated that salary increase percentages, a form of zero sum rewards, were preferentially allocated to exempt employees. Since gender was not a significant variable in the regression equation linking nonzero sum and zero sum rewards, there was no evidence of a gender-based shifting standards effect, previously proposed as a contributing factor to the American female earnings gap. However, the results were indicative of a pattern of biased allocation of corporate ratings and rewards, which may be perceived by employees as workplace injustice. Within the corporate environment, appropriate tools and thorough analysis are necessary to ensure inter-appraisal and intra-appraisal consistency, in support of the fair and equitable distribution of rewards.