It is all how you look at it: The relationship between performance appraisal formats and perceived purposefulness

Perceptions of performance appraisal fairness, accuracy, and purposefulness by employees is crucial in developing an effective performance appraisal system (Iqbal, Akbar, & Budhwar, 2015). Research suggests that rating accuracy and perceptions of fairness are of the greatest concern to organizations, however, there is minimal research regarding perceived purposefulness of the performance appraisal system. Additionally, there is a lack of literature looking at how manager perceptions of these factors relates to effective performance appraisal. In order to address these gaps in literature, the present study aims to examine how performance appraisal formats relate to managers’ perceived purposefulness of the performance appraisal system. The current study looks at data from a survey given to library directors at four-year academic institutions in which the participants provide details of their performance appraisal system and their opinions regarding the importance and effectiveness of the system. The responses will be analyzed to determine how the format used in performance appraisal systems relates to the perceived purposefulness of the system by library directors

Spatial integration of boundaries in a 3D virtual environment

Prior research, using two- and three-dimensional environments, has found that when both human and nonhuman animals independently acquire two associations between landmarks with a common landmark (e.g., LM1-LM2 and LM2-LM3), each with its own spatial relationship, they behave as if the two unique LMs have a known spatial relationship despite their never having been paired. Seemingly, they have integrated the two associations to create a third association with its own spatial relationship (LM1-LM3). Using sensory preconditioning (Experiment 1) and second-order conditioning (Experiment 2) procedures, we found that human participants integrated information about the boundaries of pathways to locate a goal within a three-dimensional virtual environment in the absence of any relevant landmarks. Spatial integration depended on the participant experiencing a common boundary feature with which to link the pathways. These results suggest that the principles of associative learning also apply to the boundaries of an environment