Sex Effects in Performance--Related Judgments

This study examined the relationships among objective performance, performance ratings, and pay allocations made by male and female managers. Because rater sex has been found to affect performance ratings and pay allocations, but little research has explored the causes of these sex differences, this study explored the effects of contextual factors that may moderate differences between the performance ratings and pay allocations of male and female raters. Two hundred twenty-nine managers assigned performance ratings and merit pay allocations to performance profiles that varied in levels of objective performance. It was found that: (a) sex effects on performance ratings were moderated by contextual variables, and b) sex and objective performance did not influence merit pay allocations independent of their separate effects on performance ratings.