Abstract

In the performance management literature, it is a widely held assumption that the involvement of frontline employees in performance management systems increases employees’ goal support, which, in turn, improves organizational performance. Yet empirically, this assumption is unsubstantiated. Therefore, the aim of this study is to make an empirical contribution to the literature by examining experimentally how involvement affects frontline employees’ support of performance goals. To test the assumption, we conduct a survey experiment on more than 1600 public caseworkers working in Danish employment agencies. Contrary to the mainstream assumption, but in line with psychological theory, our experimental test shows that involving employees has no effect on their goal support. In addition, our findings highlight various challenges for managers who seek to improve goal support through employee involvement.

摘要

在绩效管理文献中，人们普遍认为一线员工参与绩效管理系统会增加员工的目标支持，从而改善组织绩效。但从经验上讲，这种假设是没有根据的。因此，本研究的目的是通过实验检验参与度如何影响一线员工对绩效目标的支持，为文献做出实证性贡献。为了检验这一假设，我们对在丹麦职业介绍所工作的1600多名公共案例工作者进行了一项调查实验。与主流假设相反，但与心理学理论一致，我们的实验测试表明，让员工参与对他们的目标支持没有影响。此外，