Tommasi, F., Sartori, R., Ceschi, A., Michailidis, E., & Dickert, S.
Evidence of systematic cognitive errors in job performance self-ratings
The present study questions the indiscriminate use — or misuse — of job performance self-rating measures in work and organizational psychology. We provide evidence for systematic cognitive distortions in the traditional predictors (i.e., work engagement and work experience) of self-ratings of job performance. A cross-sectional study was conducted (N = 470) where employees were asked to fill in a questionnaire composed of self-report measures on job performance, work engagement, and systematic cognitive distortions. Findings suggest that highly engaged older (i.e., aging) employees tend to have optimistic judgments of their job performance which was reflected in higher levels of self-rated task performance. Likewise, adults with higher work experience (i.e., long-tenured) tend to adhere to social and organizational conventions in line with cognitive decision rules and systematic distortions which may lead to misjudgment of their contextual performance.
