Effects of Subordinate Likeability and Balanced Scorecard Format on Performance-Related Judgments

Previous appraisal research has found that subordinate manager likeability influences appraisal-related judgments. We hypothesize that when performance measures are presented in an unstructured fashion, evaluators will use an affect-consistency heuristic to simplify the task. Alternatively, when a balanced scorecard (BSC) format is used, the structure of the BSC will guide the evaluations so as to lessen the influence of subordinate likeability on evaluators' performance-related judgments. Unexpectedly, we find that the effect of subordinate manager likeability on performance-related judgments is not lessened by the format and structure of the BSC. We also provide supplemental analysis, which demonstrates that subordinate likeability has both a direct and an indirect effect on bonus allocations.