The Impact of Employee Rank on the Relationship between Attitudes, Motivation, and Performance

In this paper, we investigate the effect that employee rank has on attitudes and performance where supervisors establish budgeted standards of performance. This paper advances the extant management accounting literature by considering a variable (employee rank) not considered in prior related studies. Our findings indicate the impact of attitudes on performance is moderated by the rank of the employee within the organization. We find lower ranked employees within the organization performed better when they felt the process for establishing their performance standards was fair. For employees in higher ranking positions, the motivation associated with feedback on their performance was a factor in determining performance, while the degree to which they felt the process for establishing standards was fair was not.