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  • 2022
  • Working Paper
  • HBS Working Paper Series

Using a 360-Degree Assessment System to Promote Core Values: A Field Experiment in a Retail Chain

By: Carolyn Deller, Susanna Gallani and Tatiana Sandino
  • Format:Print
  • | Language:English
  • | Pages:59
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Abstract

We conducted a field experiment at a retailer to analyze the effects of introducing a values-based 360-degree assessment system in a setting with pre-existing high-powered monetary incentives linked to financial performance. The retail chain’s managing director intended to use this system to encourage her managers not only to pursue values related to financial short-term goals but also values capturing the organization’s long-term goals. We explore the effect of the intervention and find that the values-based 360-degree system had more favorable effects for stores with greater promotion opportunities and for stores with managers with experience related to the implementation of values. We also find that management behavior that could be perceived to be inconsistent with the spirit of the system (i.e., delaying salary payments) had a detrimental effect on the intervention, leading to worse performance. Our findings highlight important factors for successfully implementing values-based 360-degree systems as complements to explicit incentives.

Keywords

360-degree Assessments; Corporate Values; Organizational Identity; Implicit Incentives; Multitasking; Goal Clarity; Field Experiment; Values; Performance Evaluation; Values and Beliefs; Organizational Culture; Goals and Objectives

Citation

Deller, Carolyn, Susanna Gallani, and Tatiana Sandino. "Using a 360-Degree Assessment System to Promote Core Values: A Field Experiment in a Retail Chain." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 18-069, January 2018. (Revised January 2022.)
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About The Authors

Susanna Gallani

Accounting and Management
→More Publications

Tatiana Sandino

Accounting and Management
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More from the Authors
  • Emory Healthcare on the Front Lines of the Nursing Workforce Crisis By: Susanna Gallani, Karen L. Sedatole and Sarah Mehta
  • The Effect of Systems of Management Controls on Honesty in Managerial Reporting By: Aishwarrya Deore, Susanna Gallani and Ranjani Krishnan
  • Job Design and Workers’ Wellbeing: Evidence from a Hospital Setting By: Susanna Gallani and Jacob Riegler
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