The effect of interpersonal similarity on managers' use of accounting information in performance evaluation: An attributional approach

The role of accounting information in performance evaluation is to provide objective and relevant information to assist decision-makers in the evaluation process. This dissertation attempts to investigate whether interpersonal similarities between manager and subordinate influence the way managers use accounting data in performance evaluation. More specifically, the research question addressed is whether the similarity in work style (innovator vs. adaptor) between a supervisor and a subordinate, given accounting performance indicators, influences their interpersonal relationship (liking) and thus the manager's causal attributions and subsequent performance evaluation for the subordinate. It is found that similar work style between supervisors and subordinates has a direct influence on supervisors' personal liking toward subordinates, which in turn has direct effect on causal attributions and performance evaluations. It is also found that causal attributions mediate the relationship between personal liking and performance evaluations under the condition of good accounting performance data but not under the condition of poor accounting performance data.