Perceptual and Objective Performance Measures: An Empirical Analysis of the Difference and its Impact

52 Pages Posted: 2 Mar 2004

See all articles by Kusum L. Ailawadi

Kusum L. Ailawadi

Dartmouth College - Tuck School of Business

Rajiv Dant

Clarkson University - School of Business

Dhruv Grewal

Babson College - Marketing Division

Date Written: December 10, 2003

Abstract

This paper quantifies the extent of bias that occurs in the estimated relationship of performance with other marketing variables when perceptions of both are obtained from the same respondents using the same method. We econometrically separate the bias due to factors like response style and measurement format, which affect all estimated relationships uniformly and are stable over time, from that due to respondents' psychological processes like positive illusions, cognitive consistency, and self-serving attributions, which differentially influence some estimated relationships. We predict the direction of these biases and test our hypotheses using five years of objective data on the performance of the independent agents of a retailer, along with the agents' perceptions of their performance and of other marketing constructs gathered in surveys conducted during the same years.

Keywords: Subjective Performance Measures, Common Method Variance, Channel Relationships

JEL Classification: M31

Suggested Citation

Ailawadi, Kusum L. and Dant, Rajiv and Grewal, Dhruv, Perceptual and Objective Performance Measures: An Empirical Analysis of the Difference and its Impact (December 10, 2003). Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth Administration, Research Paper Series, Forthcoming, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=511062 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.511062

Kusum L. Ailawadi (Contact Author)

Dartmouth College - Tuck School of Business ( email )

100 Tuck Hall
Hanover, NH 03755
United States
603-646-2845 (Phone)
603-646-1308 (Fax)

Rajiv Dant

Clarkson University - School of Business ( email )

Potsdam, NY 13699-5780
United States

Dhruv Grewal

Babson College - Marketing Division ( email )

Babson Park, MA 02157
United States

HOME PAGE: http://faculty.babson.edu/dgrewal

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