Purpose: This study draws on Organisation Justice Theory and Social Exchange Theory to examine the effects of performance appraisal process on employee commitment via a serial mediation of performance appraisal outcome and employee reward.
Design/methodology/approach: Survey data was collected from a sample of 363 academics across UK Higher Education Institutions (HEIs), including post-1992 and pre-1992 universities. We tested our hypotheses using PLS-SEM with a bias-corrected bootstrapping method.
Findings: The findings show that performance appraisal process positively influences employee commitment and employee reward. Performance appraisal outcome and employee reward mediate the relationship between performance appraisal process and employee commitment. However, no significant relationship was found between performance appraisal outcome and employee commitment.
Practical implications: This study has significant implications for HEIs as it underscores the need for managers to ensure the clarity and accuracy of the performance appraisal process and to structure rewards to reflect employees’ efforts, considering they affect employee commitment.
Originality: This study contributes to the current debate on performance appraisal by highlighting the extent to which employees’ commitment to an organisation depends on the performance appraisal process, performance appraisal outcome and reward
