What determines managers’ use of subjective performance information?

We investigate front-line managers' use of subjective performance information when evaluating their subordinates. Subjective information is based on impressions, feelings, and opinions that can come from managers themselves or others such as co-workers or clients. We theorise that managers' use of subjective performance information will increase when objective information is of lower quality and when subjective information is of higher quality. We also expect that managers will rely less on subjective information when the need to justify the evaluation results is higher. Using a survey of 515 front-line managers, we find that subjective information is important in evaluating rank-and-file employees' performance, with managers placing an average weight of 75% on it. Consistent with our predictions, we find that subjective information is used more when task programmability (a proxy for objective information quality) is higher and is used less when employees perform less well and when the evaluation results have incentive consequences (both are proxies for the need for justification). We also find that, relative to their own subjective opinions, managers treat subjective opinions of third parties as more similar to objective information. This highlights the need for future research to distinguish between these two types of subjective information.