Braun Tibor, Schubert András (szerk.): Szakértői bírálat (peer review) a tudományos kutatásban : Válogatott tanulmányok a téma szakirodalmából (A MTAK Informatikai És Tudományelemzési Sorozata 7., 1993)
ANGELO S. DENISI, W. ALAN RANDOLPH and ALLYN G. BLENCOE: Potential Problems with Peer Ratings
162 D E NISI & AL . : POTENTIAL PROBLEMS WI TH PEER RATINGS (Zajonc, 1962). This reduction in cohesiveness can have serious consequences for the performance of interacting groups (Stogdill, 1972). There also are empirical data to indicate that people retaliate against peers after receiving negative ratings. Koeck and Guthrie (1975), for example, reported that subjects lowered subsequent personality ratings of peers by giving them more negative ratings after learning those peers had rated them negatively. They did not, however, raise subsequent ratings after learning that peers rated them positively. Bernardin (1980) found similar results of retaliation for poor supervisory evaluations, citing a relationship between the ratings a supervisor gives a subordinate and the subordinate's description of the supervisor's leadership style. This potential for retaliation probably is more serious in the case of peer ratings, however, because the ratee may well have the opportunity to repay the rater in kind. Thus, there is some reason to expect that learning of negative peer ratings will lead to retaliation during subsequent evaluations, lower group cohesiveness, and perhaps will even cause poorer performance for interacting groups. Nonetheless, no research is known that has directly examined any of these possibilities. It also should be noted that people may react to peer ratings in ways much different from those discussed above. Negative ratings, especially if one feels them to be unjustified, could be viewed as an attack on self-esteem. A number of studies reviewed by Kormán (1970) suggested that persons might react to such an attack by working even harder to demonstrate their competence. This is, after all, what would be hoped for as a result of negative evaluations. Conversely, it is possible that positive peer evaluations could produce too much cohesiveness, which, if the group was not particularly motivated to perform well, could result in less task oriented interaction and consequently poorer performance (Stogdill, 1972). These outcomes must be acknowledged as possibilities, although they seem less likely, given the research results reviewed above. The present study is a laboratory experiment that investigated effects of peer evaluations on group behavior and performance. The following general hypothesis is tested: Knowledge of peer ratings will affect ratings of group cohesiveness, satisfaction, group interactions, and group performance (both perceived and actual) on a subsequent task. It thus is predicted that there will be positive effects for individuals who learn that their peers have rated them positively (i.e., various rating "scores" will improve) and negative effects for individuals who learn that their peers have evaluated them negatively. Furthermore, following the results reported by Koeck and Guthrie (1975), it is predicted that the effects following negative peer ratings will be relatively stronger than the effects following positive peer ratings. Method Subjects and Procedures A total of 143 undergraduate students (68 female) participated in a laboratory experiment in partial fulfillment of course requirements. All subjects
