We use eye tracking technology to provide a better understanding of cognitive processes behind biases in subjective performance evaluation. In our experiment, subjective performance evaluation involves a supervisor evaluating the office administration performance of a subordinate. Consistent with previous literature, we find that the subjective evaluation of subordinate performance is influenced by performance on an unrelated objective measure used to evaluate the subordinate (spill-over). We predict and provide evidence that the supervisor’s decision modes (intuition versus deliberation) interact with the level of performance on the objective performance measure to determine the subjective performance evaluation and the magnitude of the spill-over. Specifically, we find that individuals who use more effortful, deliberate decision modes show lower levels of spill-over. As such, we contribute to the accounting literature by examining how biases in performance evaluation can be reduced and showing ways to capture cognitive processes accompanying those biases more precisely.

我们使用眼动追踪技术来更好地理解主观绩效评估中偏见背后的认知过程。在我们的实验中，主观绩效评估包括主管评估下属的办公室管理绩效。与以前的文献一致，我们发现对下属绩效的主观评估受绩效的影响，该绩效是用来评估下属（溢出）的不相关客观指标的。我们预测并提供证据表明主管的决策模式（直觉与商议）与客观绩效评估中的绩效水平进行交互，以确定主观绩效评估和溢出量。具体而言，我们发现使用更省力，深思熟虑的决策模式的个人显示出较低的溢出水平。因此，我们通过研究如何减少绩效评估中的偏差并显示出更精确地捕捉伴随这些偏差的认知过程的方式，为会计文献做出了贡献。