Appraising the performance of employees with disabilities: A review and model

The literature on the appraisal of persons with disabilities is reviewed. This literature suggests inconsistent and conflicting effects for ratees' disability on performance ratings. We review several theoretical arguments for why there may be bias in the performance appraisal of employees with disabilities and outline some of the conditions under which bias will most likely occur. A more broad based review of some potential processes underlying appraisal decisions is presented to explain why such inconsistencies should be expected. These processes are used to develop a, model of the appraisal process for persons with disabilities which can be used to guide future research in this area. The model focuses on raters' cognitive processes, the quality of leader-member exchange, performance standards, rater attributions, and the consequences of the performance appraisal process. Practical implications of this process-oriented view of the appraisal of persons with disabilities are also discussed.