Influence of Psychosocial Characteristics of Supervisors on Performance Appraisal of the Subordinates in Selected Federal Government Colleges in Nigeria.

Abstract
The psychosocial characteristics of supervisors are assumed to be some of the factors that influence the assessment of subordinates in organisations. Therefore, the study determined the influence of some psychosocial characteristics such as religion, ethnic group affiliation, gender, age, experience, job involvement and personality of supervisors on their evaluation of the performance of their subordinates in selected Federal Government Colleges in Nigeria. Attempt was also made to modify and standardise the current Nigerian Public Service Annual Performance Evaluation Report (APER) form into a new Performance Evaluation Scale (PES). Seven hundred and twenty participants were drawn from 24 Federal Government Colleges from 12 states in the 6 geo-political zones of the country. The survey research method was used to collect the data. The sample was made up of 120 supervisors and 600 subordinates. The stratified sampling method was used in drawing up the participants. The statistical designs included the Pearson correlation coefficient statistics, factor analysis, ANOVA and the post hoc tests. Results showed that Moslem supervisors gave significantly less favourable ratings to Christian subordinates [F(1,595)=7.01, P<.01]. It was also found that supervisors from Hausa, Igbo and Yoruba ethnic groups gave significantly more favourable ratings to subordinates of their own ethnic groups [F(3, 595) = 4.73, P<.01]. Findings also showed that supervisors with long experience gave significantly more favourable ratings than supervisors with low experience [F (1,592) =11.80, P<.01] while high job involved supervisors gave significantly more favourable ratings than low job involved supervisors in the appraisal of subordinates’ job performance [F (1,592) = 16.31, P<.01]. However, gender and age of supervisors had no significant influence on their performance assessment [F (1,592) =2.05, P>.05]; [F (1,599) = 1.32, P>.05]. The study has demonstrated that psychosocial characteristics of supervisors such as religion, ethnicity, job experience and level of job involvement significantly influence supervisors’ evaluation of the performance of their subordinates in the Federal Government Colleges in Nigeria. The study further demonstrated that gender and age have no influence on the performance appraisal of subordinates. The appraisal process should be carried out in a non-judgmental, unbiased manner to ensure increased staff motivation. Furthermore, organisations should ensure that multiple supervisors who are familiar with the subordinates’ actual job performance carry out the assessment of subordinates work.
Description
A Thesis Submitted to the School of Postgraduate Studies, University of Lagos.
Keywords
Psychosocial Characteristics , Appraisal , Performance , Research Subject Categories::SOCIAL SCIENCES::Social sciences::Psychology
Citation
Ufoegbune, O (2014), Influence of Psychosocial Characteristics of Supervisors on Performance Appraisal of the Subordinates in Selected Federal Government Colleges in Nigeria. A Thesis Submitted to University of Lagos School of Postgraduate Studies Phd Thesis and Dissertation, 192pp.