The role of appraisal politics on appraisal systems and employee silence within the public sector in South Korea

Purpose: There has been much discussion about employee appraisals within the public sector in South Korea, owing to the lack of accuracy in performance ratings (Ahn & Cho 2018). Despite the awareness that the inaccuracy in performance ratings can be considered to be the result of perceived appraisal politics (Poon 2004; Silva 2018; Dhiman 2020), precious few scholars in South Korea posed the questions respecting the determinants and the effect of perceived appraisal politics within the public sector (Ahn & Cho 2015; Kwon 2020). Hence, this doctoral research is to explore the full mediating role of perceived appraisal politics toward acceptance of the appraisal system, and the moderating role of employee silence in the relation between the determinants of perceived appraisal politics and the perception of appraisal politics. Methods: This research draws on a quantitative data set collected from the central administrative agency and the public institution under the central administrative agency in South Korea. This study opts for the use of questionnaires for data collection. The data is analysed, through PLS-SEM. Results: Firstly, pertaining to the determinants of perceived appraisal politics, two factors from the job environmental dimension affect the perception of appraisal politics, including interactions with others and job autonomy. Besides, three elements from the rater dimension affect perceived appraisal politics, such as ambiguity of appraisal policies, higher supervisor discretion and rater accountability. Secondly, employee silence with personal motives as a moderating effect affects the relation between low fairness of job rotation and benefits for raters, and higher supervisor discretion and benefits for ratees, as well as the relation between low rater accountability and benefits for ratees. Finally, benefits for raters fully mediate the relation between interactions with others and managerial acceptance of the appraisal system. A negative path coefficient is presented. Conclusion: It is vital to minimise the perception of appraisal politics attributed to clique behaviour to increase acceptance of the appraisal system within the public sector in South Korea. It is suggested to train not merely raters but also subordinates, concerning how to treat others at work. Also noteworthy is that depending on the existence or non-existence of employee silence, HR practitioners forecast employee silence. As the increasing number of sector switchers to the public sector exist in the public institution, HR practitioners should contemplate the interaction term of employee silence to perceived appraisal politics.

Author dc:creator

• Yoo, Jin-Woong

Contributors dc:contributor

• Smita Tripathi, Saeyeon Roh, Mohamed Haddoud

• Perceived appraisal politics
• Acceptance of the appraisal system
• Employee silence with personal motives
• Determinants of perceived appraisal politics
• Job environment dimension
• Rater dimension

Language dc:language

eng

Identifier

10026.1/19420

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:pearl.plymouth.ac.uk:pbs-theses-1124