Understanding the adoption of Pay-for-performance in state governments: A diffusion theory approach

As various private sector practices have been introduced into the public sector, some were adopted without careful assessment of potential policy and management implications. One such example is the adoption of pay-for-performance (PFP). While previous research has corroborated that this performance incentive mechanism was implemented without thorough assessment, the diffusion process of PFP has not been empirically tested or evaluated. This study applies a regional diffusion model among American (U.S.) states to examine the diffusion process. Findings show that state governments tend to adopt PFP plans when they become aware of their neighbouring states adopting them, but the marginal probability of adoption decreases as the numbers of neighbours adopting such plan

Motivating raters through work design: Applying the job characteristics model to the performance appraisal context

In general, raters are responsible for evaluating their subordinates’ performance and delivering their final performance ratings. As most organizations prefer accurate ratings, past research has focused on encouraging raters to produce more accurate appraisals. Extant research on rater motivations has highlighted the various factors affecting rating accuracy, but the job characteristics of appraisals represent an unexplored area. The current study attempts to extend the rater motivation research by introducing a work design perspective of appraisal and exploring the ways in which the job characteristics of appraisals can be used to motivate raters. First, rater motivation theory and Hackman and Oldham’s job characteristics model (JCM) are reviewed. Then, the current study illustrates how the JCM can be applied to the performance appraisal context