Employee fairness perceptions of performance appraisal: a Saint Lucian case study

Sharon Narcisse & Mark Harcourt

Pages 1152-1169 | Published online: 12 Jun 2008

Abstract

This research identifies the essential factors which influence employees' fairness perceptions of their
performance appraisals, and determines the applicability of these factors to the experiences of
employees in a Saint Lucian public service organization. Fairness perceptions are of three main types.
First, distributive justice refers to the perceived fairness of an actual appraisal rating. Second, procedural
justice refers to the perceived fairness of procedures used to determine the appraisal rating. Third,
interactional justice refers to the perceived fairness of the rater's interpersonal treatment of the ratee
during the appraisal process. A qualitative case study method was used to gain a rich understanding of
employee perceptions of the fairness of their performance appraisals. Data were obtained from both
completed appraisal forms and interviews with 20 knowledgeable employees. All interviews were
transcribed and assessed using a thematic analysis. Overall, results show that distributive, procedural,
and interactional justice factors identified in the existing literature influence employee perceptions of
fairness in their appraisals. Results suggest that employees also consider four additional justice factors,
as yet not formally recognized in the justice literature, one distributive – the consistency in reward
distribution – and three procedural – appraisal frequency, job relevant criteria, and rater and ratee
training.

Keywords: fairness, justice, performance appraisal