MODESTY BIAS IN SELF‐RATINGS OF PERFORMANCE: A TEST OF THE CULTURAL RELATIVITY HYPOTHESIS

JIAYUANYU, KEVIN R. MURPHY

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Although self‐ratings of performance are usually higher than ratings obtained from supervisors, Farh, Dobbins, and Cheng (1991) found that Taiwanese workers exhibited modesty bias (i.e., self‐ratings that were lower than supervisory ratings). They explained their findings in terms of broad cultural differences between Taiwanese and Western workers. To test this cultural relativity hypothesis, we replicated their study using data from several organizations in mainland China. As is typically found in Western research, Chinese workers showed leniency in self‐ratings (i.e., self‐ratings that were higher than supervisor or peer ratings), which suggests that broad cultural factors do not explain the modesty bias reported by Farh et al.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)357-363
Number of pages7
JournalPersonnel Psychology
Volume46
Issue number2
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Jun 1993
Externally publishedYes

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