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Evaluating performance over time: Is improving better than being consistently good?
Monica Soliman1, Roger Buehler1
1a Wilfrid Laurier University.
The Journal of Social Psychology
|June 22, 2017
Summary
People prefer consistent high performance for achievement decisions, but value improving performance for potential-based choices. This highlights how decision context influences the evaluation of intertemporal performance records.
Area of Science:
- Decision Science
- Social Psychology
- Organizational Behavior
Background:
- Individuals often evaluate others using past performance data.
- A common dilemma involves choosing between consistently high performance and performance that improves over time to a high level.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate how evaluators' preferences differ based on two distinct intertemporal performance profiles: consistent high performance versus improving performance.
- To explore the influence of decision context on the preference for these performance profiles.
Main Methods:
- Three studies were conducted using participants who evaluated hypothetical candidates (students, employees).
- Candidates presented two performance profiles: consistently high or improving to a high level.
- Evaluations focused on perceived performance, future expectations, and deservingness.
Main Results:
- Consistently high performers were rated higher on current performance but lower on future expectations compared to improving performers.
- In achievement-based decisions (e.g., scholarships), consistent performance was deemed more deserving.
- In potential-based decisions (e.g., promotions), improving performance was preferred.
- These preferences were mediated by the weight given to current performance versus future expectations.
Conclusions:
- The choice between consistent and improving performance depends on the decision context.
- Achievement-oriented decisions favor consistent performance, while potential-oriented decisions favor improving performance.
- Evaluators' weighting of performance and future expectations drives these context-dependent preferences.
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