Reputations May Have A Weak Relationship To Actual Employee Behaviors

Managers know the importance of employee reputations. Reputations allow employees to find out about other employees’ performance, and help to reward good behavior and lessen bad behavior. However, today’s best managers know that there is often only a weak relationship between an employee’s reputation and his or her actual behavior. Reputations can be more accurate for employees who are more well-known and receive more social attention. However, reputations tend to be less accurate for less well-known individuals and those relatively unknown by others. Today’s best managers get to know employees personally rather than rely on possibly faulty reputation-based information.

Source: Anderson, C., Shirako, A. 2008. Are individuals’ reputations related to their history of behavior? Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 94, 320-333.