Acta Universitatis Danubius. Œconomica, Vol 7, No 1 (2011)

Abstract

Performance appraisal politics are viewed as a vital human resource management issue
where it consists of two salient features: motivational motive and punishment motive. The ability of
appraisers (e.g., immediate bosses/managers) to properly implement such appraisal politics in
allocating performance ratings may have significant impact on job satisfaction. Although the nature of
this relationship is important, little is known about the role of performance appraisal politics as a
predicting variable in the performance appraisal models. Therefore, this study was conducted to
examine the effect of performance appraisal politics on job satisfaction using 150 usable
questionnaires gathered from employees who have worked in a national postal company in Sarawak,
Malaysia. In initial data analysis, the results of exploratory factor analysis confirmed that the
measurement scales used in this study satisfactorily met the standards of validity and reliability
analyses. Further, in hypothesis testing, the outcomes of stepwise regression analysis showed that
performance appraisal politics (i.e., motivational motive and punishment motive) significantly
correlated with job satisfaction. Statistically, this result confirms that performance appraisal politics
act as important predictors of job satisfaction in the studied organization. In addition, discussion,
implications and conclusion are elaborated.