Performance Appraisal Criteria and Innovative Work Behaviour: The Mediating Role of Employees’ Appraisal Satisfaction

Digitalization of work has recently rekindled the debate about the effectiveness of performance appraisal in encouraging innovative work behaviour. This study addresses this issue by hypothesizing that employees’ satisfaction towards their performance appraisal plays a mediating role in this relationship. Data collected from a sample of 865 Italian employees are used to estimate the mediation model. The main findings show that performance appraisal focused on the employees’ achieved results and new-developed competences boosts innovative behaviour more than traditional forms of evaluation based on time spent at the workplace, assigned tasks, working hours. Moreover, the employees’ satisfaction with the appraisal system and their performance rating agreement totally mediate the above relationship.