Objectivity and subjectivity in performance evaluation and autonomous motivation: An exploratory study

• Interaction between objectivity/subjectivity and motivation was tested.
• Study was based on Self-Determination Theory.
• Findings indicate a complex interaction effect.

A considerable body of accounting research has analysed the effectiveness of subjective performance assessment to compensate for the shortcomings of objective performance measures. The present paper adds a further perspective to this research by analysing the interaction between autonomous motivation and performance evaluation systems that either contain only objective measures or also apply subjective assessment. Findings of one experiment indicate that evaluation systems that contain either only objective or both objective and subjective components do not exhibit a significant interaction with autonomous motivation and that mixed evaluation is superior independent of the level of autonomous motivation. However, the findings of a further experiment, investigating the impact of imprecision that can accompany subjective performance evaluation, indicate that, for people low in autonomous motivation, objective and precise performance assessment is superior to performance evaluation that also contains imprecise subjective components. In the case of people high in autonomous motivation, the opposite holds true.