Subjective Evaluation of Professional Employees: Work-Day Duration as a Heuristic to Evaluate Output

• In Event: Career Concerns: Evaluations, Promotions, and Guilt

Abstract

In a setting where employees are professionals, I examine the joint effects of work-day duration and performance reward type on quality evaluations of subjective output. I use an experiment (Study 1) where participants are required to evaluate good quality subjective output of a professional employee. I manipulate whether the professional employee works a short or equal work-day duration relative to other employees and whether the evaluation will help to determine a bonus or a promotion. When the purpose of the evaluation is to help determine a bonus, evaluations of subjective quality are lower for short work-day duration professional employees. However, when the purpose of the evaluation is to help determine a promotion, evaluations of subjective quality are higher for short work-day duration employees. I perform a second study (Study 2) to examine whether the effects persist for moderate quality subjective output. Results of the second experiment differ from the first. When the purpose of the performance reward is a bonus, evaluations of subjective quality are lower for short work-day duration professional employees. However, when the purpose of the performance reward is promotion, evaluations of subjective quality are not higher for short work-day duration professional employees. Results identify that in settings where there is no direct relationship between work-day duration and quality of subjective output, work-day duration is used as an informational cue in the evaluation of subjective quality.

Author

• Sara Wick, Wilfrid Laurier University