Performance appraisal justice and employees' work engagement in the public sector: Making the most of performance appraisal design

Abstract

Regarding organizational justice, performance appraisal (PA) systems are among the most crucial mechanisms shaping the employee work experience. Nonetheless, research has mostly neglected to explain the relationship between the characteristics of PA systems, employees' perceptions of PA justice, and work engagement in the public sector. Based on a combination of observational and experimental data from 11 public sector organizations in Italy, this article aims to unfold the nature of these relationships. Following the recent calls for diversified methodological designs, a combination of structural equation modeling with a discrete choice experiment is provided. The results show that designing PA systems with rater–ratee feedback sessions and calibration mechanisms leads to fairer perceived PAs, with PA justice being associated with public employees' work engagement.

The impact of justice perceptions of performance appraisal practices on job satisfaction and intention to stay: the mediating role of job engagement

“…This result supports social exchange theory, which implies that when employees perceive performance appraisal practices as fair and transparent, they reciprocate by showing greater job satisfaction. This finding is in line with the previous studies (Poon, 2004; Micacchi et al. , 2023), which found that employees’ perceptions of political motives and lack of fairness in performance appraisal practices play a role in reducing job satisfaction among employees from various functional backgrounds.…”

“…The justice or fairness of performance appraisal creates a sense of being cared for and valued, which motivates employees to involve and express themselves physically, cognitively, and emotionally in their job (Kahn, 1990;Schaufeli et al, 2002). Indeed, perceived performance appraisal justice improves the social relationship between employer and employees, motivating employees to reciprocate the organization with greater job engagement (Micacchi et al, 2023). The findings of this study stressed the significance of performance appraisal justice in IT companies for having highly engaged employees in the workplace.…”

“…, 2002). Indeed, perceived performance appraisal justice improves the social relationship between employer and employees, motivating employees to reciprocate the organization with greater job engagement (Micacchi et al. , 2023).…”

“…Can reduce their level of job engagement (Gupta and Kumar, 2013). Furthermore, procedural, distributive, interpersonal, and informational justice in performance appraisal practices has been exhibited to improve job engagement when employees can experience fairness in the appraisal process (Micacchi et al, 2023). Besides, empirical studies have indicated the relationship between performance appraisal justice and job engagement.…”

“…For example, Gupta and Kumar (2013) examined the relationship between performance appraisal justice and employee engagement among Indian professionals. Micacchi et al (2023) investigated the role of performance appraisal justice on employees' job engagement in the public sector in Italy. Both studies reported a positive relationship between performance appraisal justice and job engagement.…”