Performance appraisal satisfaction and employee outcomes: mediating and moderating roles of work motivation Ba ˚rd Kuvaas Abstract The purpose of this study was to explore alternative relationships between performance appraisal satisfaction and employee outcomes in the form of self-reported work performance, affective organizational commitment and turnover intention. A cross- sectional survey of 593 employees from 64 Norwegian savings banks showed that performance appraisal satisfaction was directly related to affective commitment and turnover intention. The relationship between performance appraisal satisfaction and work performance, however, was both mediated and moderated by employees’ intrinsic work motivation. The form of the moderation revealed a negative relationship for employees with low intrinsic motivation and a positive relationship for those with high intrinsic motivation. Implications for practice and directions for future research are discussed. Keywords Performance appraisal; intrinsic motivation; affective commitment; work performance; turnover intention. Performance appraisal (PA) is among the most important Human Resource (HR) practices (Boswell and Boudreau, 2002; Judge and Ferris, 1993) and one of the more heavily researched topics in work psychology (Fletcher, 2002). PA has increasingly become part of a more strategic approach to integrating HR activities and business policies and may now be seen as a generic term covering a variety of activities through which organizations seek to assess employees and develop their competence, enhance performance and distribute rewards (Fletcher, 2001). Thus, both practice and research have moved away from a narrow focus on psychometric and evaluation issues to developmental PA (e.g., Fletcher, 2001; Lefkowitz, 2000; Levy and Williams, 2004; Waal, 2003), which may be defined as any effort concerned with enriching attitudes, experiences, and skills that improves the effectiveness of employees (Boswell and Boudreau, 2002). Still, many organizations express dissatisfaction with their appraisal schemes (Fletcher, 1997). According to Fletcher (2001), this may signal a lack of success of PA as a mechanism for developing and motivating people. There is general consensus among PA researchers and practitioners that assessment of appraisal reactions is important (Keeping and Levy, 2000). For instance, it is frequently argued that in order for PA to positively influence employee behaviour and future development, employees must experience positive appraisal reactions. If not, any appraisal system will be doomed to The International Journal of Human Resource Management ISSN 0958-5192 print/ISSN 1466-4399 online q 2006 Taylor & Francis http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals DOI: 10.1080/09585190500521581 Ba ˚rd Kuvaas, Department of Leadership and Organization Management, Norwegian School of Management, Nydalsveien 37, 0442 Oslo, Norway (tel: (þ 47) 4641 0731; fax: (þ 47) 6755-7678; e-mail: bard.kuvaas@bi.no). Int. J. of Human Resource Management 17:3 March 2006 504–522