Locus of Control and Performance Appraisal

48 Pages Posted: 31 Oct 2016 Last revised: 28 Apr 2023

See all articles by John S. Heywood

John S. Heywood

University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee

Uwe Jirjahn

University of Trier - Faculty of Economics

Cornelia Struewing

University of Trier

Abstract

This work contributes to the literature demonstrating an important role for psychological traits in labor market decisions. We show that West German workers with an internal locus of control sort into jobs with performance appraisals. Appraisals provide workers who believe they control their environment a tool to demonstrate their value and achieve their goals. We confirm that workers who are risk tolerant also sort into jobs with performance appraisals but explain why the influence of the locus of control and risk tolerance should not be additive. We demonstrate this by estimating a routinely large and significantly negative interaction in our sorting equations. We also show that important patterns of sorting are revealed only when taking into account the interaction of locus of control and risk tolerance.

Keywords: extrinsic rewards, sorting, performance pay, performance appraisal, risk attitude, locus of control, intrinsic motivation

JEL Classification: D03, J33, M52

Suggested Citation

Heywood, John S. and Jirjahn, Uwe and Struewing, Cornelia, Locus of Control and Performance Appraisal. IZA Discussion Paper No. 10288, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2861073 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2861073

John S. Heywood (Contact Author)

University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee ( email )

3210 N. Maryland Avenue, Bolton Hall 802
Bolton Hall 802
Milwaukee, WI 53211
United States
414-229-4437 (Phone)
414-229-3860 (Fax)

Uwe Jirjahn

University of Trier - Faculty of Economics ( email )

Trier, 54286
Germany

Cornelia Struewing

University of Trier ( email )

15, Universitaetsring
Trier, 54286
Germany

Do you have negative results from your research you’d like to share?

Paper statistics

Downloads
106
Abstract Views
798
Rank
459,927
PlumX Metrics