Effects of Accurate and Inflated Employee Performance Self-Evaluations on Memory Accuracy

摘要

Previous research has emphasized the value of carrying out performance appraisals at work. Both employers and employees can benefit from utilizing such measurement tools (Huselid, 1995). While conducting performance appraisals is critical to the success of an organization, companies must also be wary of the misinformation effect and the impact it can have on different parts of an appraisal, especially an employeeu27s self-evaluation. Due to the lack of existing research on the memory for self-evaluations, I designed the present study to identify the effects of both accurate and inflated self-evaluations on memories for the original event. After watching a video describing an employeeu27s work performance and reading a self-evaluation written by that same employee, participants rated the employeeu27s performance based exclusively on the video. Participantsu27 memory was then tested one week later to determine if the misleading information resulted in any alterations in memory for the original event. Although the results were not significant, the inflated self-evaluation did produce a slight increase in positive ratings over time, providing potential support for the hypothesis. Future implications and current study limitations are also discussed.