Background
Performance appraisal is considered as one of the main tasks of managers to achieve organizational goals and improve the quality of services. In this regard, nursing managers, especially first-class nursing managers, can play an important role in the implementation of performance appraisal in hospitals (1). Performance appraisal in nursing refers to an assessment of the nurses’ efficiency and skills as well as the effectiveness of the nursing process and the activities performed by the nurses while providing care for the clients (2).
Organizational researchers have proposed fair performance appraisal in the form of organizational justice. Organizational justice refers to the employees’ perception of the fairness of the organizational procedures and consequences (3). In other words, employees consider an activity fair if only they have a reasonable perception of that activity (4). Therefore, justice perception of performance appraisal is a very important issue in organizations (5), which means that the individuals or groups perceive justice regarding the procedures and consequences of performance appraisal (3,6). On the other hand, the World Health Organization (WHO) has identified justice as one of the main goals of the healthcare system (7). The pioneering research on justice in organizations dates back to the early 1960s. However, a new chapter began in empirical studies about organizational justice after 1990 and then Greenberg proposed a four-factor model of justice for performance appraisal including1) the distributive justice which refers to justice in the consequences of performance appraisal;2) the procedural justice which is related to individuals’ perceptions of the standards used in methods and processes of performance appraisal;3) the interpersonal justice which refers to the perception of the clients of the executives or supervisors’ behavior; and 4) the informational justice which means that all information related to the decisions and evaluation processes should be available to the evaluators (8,9).
Employees’ perception of justice in performance appraisal will have a significant effect on the acceptance of the assessment scores, satisfaction with the appraisal process, and organizational commitment. If an organization indicates that justice has been observed in performance appraisal, it will lead to an increase in employees’ motivation and productivity. Fair performance appraisal can motivate the employees to strive to revise and improve their performance and to develop the belief that their performance is perceived and appreciated by the organization (3).
Rakhshany Zabol et al. conducted a study on 298 nurses and concluded that there is a direct relationship between distributive and interpersonal justice and stay in the nursing profession (10). Besides, the results of Mohamed’s study showed that a high perception of procedural justice is associated with high quality of nurses’ performance (11). Cao et al. also reported that the nurses’ perception of justice is a result of fair organizational behaviors which leads to an increase in occupational commitment among nurses as well as an increase in the quality of healthcare delivery (12). In other words, if nurses’ perception of performance appraisal is unfair, it may be a potential source of job dissatisfaction and will consequently result in a lack of professional commitment, violent behavior, and leaving the job (13,14). Also, the justice perception of performance appraisal and its consequences affect the effectiveness costs (15). Therefore, it is necessary to measure the justice perception of performance appraisal through a valid scale.
In this regard, Thurston developed a framework to measure the justice perception of performance appraisal and then conducted a psychometric analysis respectively (8). This self-report scale is claimed to have high validity and reliability and, based on Greenberg’s proposed model, is specifically designed to monitor the organizational justice of appraisal (16). This instrument has been used for the administrative employees of governmental and non-governmental organizations (3,8). Given the importance of the results of performance appraisal on nurses’ professional development, the quality of patient care, and the development of healthcare organizations, it is necessary to use a valid instrument to measure nurses’ perception of justice in performance appraisal.
Assessing the justice perception of performance appraisal using a reliable and valid instrument allows nursing managers to understand the reasons for nurses’ dissatisfaction with the performance appraisal system. It also helps them use reliable and fair methods to conduct the appraisal, ask competent people to evaluate nurses’ performance and provide accurate information about nurses’ job requirements as well as the expectations of the healthcare system before assessment. Moreover, justice is not just limited to a specific time and the continuity of the assessment of justice is very important. The previous review studies have not reported sufficient and relevant evidence about the psychometric properties of the perception of justice in performance appraisal in Iran. Therefore, the present study aimed at conducting psychometric analysis on the nurses’ perception of justice in performance appraisal.