A Cognitive Evaluation of Frame-of-Reference Rater Training: Content and Process Issues

A multivariate, cognitive evaluation model was used to examine the previously noted effects of frame-of-reference (FOR) training on rating accuracy. The tested model emphasized two content-related issues associated with FOR training: (a) the content of the training itself and the extent that raters agreed with it, which provided an index of the amount of overlap between the theory of performance taught in training and a rater's implicit theory of performance following training; and (b) the content of raters' performance impressions of ratees based on a comprehensive and integrative model of the cognitive representations of persons- Associated Systems Theory (Carlston, 1992, 1994). Undergraduates (N = 172) were trained with FOR or control procedures using two different performance theories, observed and rated videotaped manager performance on three performance dimensions, and engaged in written free-recall of target performance vignettes. A structural model was tested incorporating a latent differential rating accuracy construct. FOR training was associated with higher demonstrated levels of agreement and with changes in ratee representation that were more abstract and more target-referent (i.e., less idiosyncratic) than control training. Agreement was found to be associated with enhanced rating accuracy and more self-referent impressions; however, target-referent impressions were shown to be related to better rating accuracy. Discussion focuses on the interrelated nature of content and process issues in performance appraisal. Using the AST framework, it is also proposed that longstanding manager/subordinate dyads could be expected to benefit the most from FOR training. Copyright 1998 Academic Press.