Abstract

The present study examined if rater's rating on ratee's performance is biased by rater's expectation that results from ratee's previous performance. In addition, it was examined how the rating is moderated by motivational factors and rating procedure. Situation and trait were used as two motivational factors. Experiment 1 examined the effects of accountability and rating procedure. Accountability was the situational motivational factor, which demanded careful information processing. The result showed that the expectation did not bias the performance when the raters had low expectation. However when the raters had high expectation, the bias from expectation decreased as accountability was imposed on the raters. It was also investigated how the effects accountability changed according 的 the rating procedure. As a result, when the rating was prior to the recall, moderating effect of accountability on bias was not significant. On the other hand, when the recall was prior to the rating, the bias significantly decreased as the accountability was imposed. Experiment 2 examined the effects of need for cognitive closure and rating procedure. Need for cognitive closure represented the trait motivational factor. The result showed that the rating was less positively biased by raters with high expectation when the raters had low need for cognitive closure, than when the raters had high need for cognitive closure. It was also examined how the moderating effects of trait changed according 的 the rating procedure. The result showed that the raters with low need for cognitive closure rated ratees in an unbiased way regardless of the rating procedure. However, the rating of the raters with high need for cognitive closure was more biased in accordance with their expectation when the recall was prior to the rating than when the rating was before recall. Finally, the implications and future research were discussed.