Examining the effects of performance beyond role requirements : a field and laboratory study

The purpose of this study was to extend existing theoretical and empirical knowledge regarding the processes whereby extrarole performance influences performance judgments. Two existing overarching theoretical perspectives were posed as useful frameworks for understanding how extrarole performance impacts overall evaluation and reward recommendations. Moreover, several variables thought to mediate and moderate the relationship between extrarole performance and the dependent measures were investigated.

A number of specific hypotheses were proposed. Extrarole performance was predicted to add to the variance associated with the outcome measures above and beyond the variance contributed by in-role performance. The relationship between the dependent variables and extrarole performance was also hypothesized to vary as a function of the level of in-role performance. Liking, perceived affective commitment, and the causal motive attributed to the extrarole behavior were predicted to mediate the relationship between extrarole performance and the outcome measures after controlling for in-role performance. Job expectations were predicted to moderate the relationship between extrarole performance and liking and the relationship between extrarole performance and perceived affective commitment. Finally, it was predicted that ratee gender would moderate the relationship between extrarole performance and the dependent measures after controlling for in-role performance.

A field and laboratory study were conducted. The field study consisted of managers who rated the performance and reported their perceptions regarding 148 subordinates. Participants in the laboratory study consisted of 136 students who participated in one of eight experimental conditions. Participants viewed and then rated a videotaped segment of teaching performance that consisted of either a male or a female instructor exhibiting either high or low in-role performance and exhibiting either high or low extrarole performance.

Several convergent results were found across the lab and field study. In both studies, extrarole performance added to the prediction of overall evaluation and reward recommendations above and beyond that of in-role performance. Additionally, in both studies, interaction effects were suggested between in-role and extrarole performance. The results of both studies also indicated that liking and perceived affective commitment mediate the relationship between extrarole performance and overall evaluation.

The field study also afforded the opportunity to examine the effects of the motive attributed by the manager for the employee's extrarole behavior. The results indicated that causal motive mediated the relationship between extrarole performance and overall evaluation. Post hoc results of the field study also revealed that perceived affective commitment and altruistic causal motives moderated the relationship between extrarole performance and reward recommendations. No effects were found for job expectations or ratee gender in either study. Limitations to the research, theoretical and practical implications, and directions for future research are also presented.