Raters' attribution of extra-role behaviors: Good citizen or ingratiator

This study investigated the role of suspicion in labeling workplace behavior as ingratiation or organizational citizenship behavior and its subsequent impact on performance evaluations and rater's affect toward the ratee. It was proposed that salience of dependence of the ratee on the rater and the type of ingratiatory tactic would interact to create suspicion of ulterior motives and lead to an attribution regarding the ratee's intentions. As part of a managerial role play exercise, 177 students were required to rate a hypothetical employee's performance and were presented with descriptions of the ratee's prior behavior designed to indicate that the ratee was not likely to engage in extra-role behavior. Salience of dependence was manipulated by varying information about the number of raters involved in determining the performance appraisal rating for the ratee and the timing of the ratee's behavior. Type of ingratiatory tactic was manipulated by presenting a written description of the ratee engaging in favor-rendering behavior directed at the rater, favor-rendering behavior directed at a coworker, or self-presentation behavior. Dependent measures included (a) the rater's suspicion of ulterior motives, (b) the rater's attribution of the ratee's motives, (c) the rater's liking for the ratee, and (d) the rater's performance evaluation of the ratee. Results indicated that neither salience of dependence nor type of ingratiatory tactic had a significant effect on suspicion of ulterior motives. However, suspicion of ulterior motives was related to labeling the ratee as behaving for ulterior motives. Furthermore, suspicion of ulterior motives was negatively related to the rater's liking for the ratee and the performance evaluation of the ratee.