Abstract
Purpose. The purpose of this study is to determine if it is appropriate to incorporate ethics in a business performance appraisal, whether it is apparent how ethics can be assessed in a performance appraisal, and whether incorporating ethics into performance appraisals is useful in evaluating an employee's performance. Methodology. The study used descriptive research methodology. The purposive sample of the study was the human resources professionals who are current active members of the San Gabriel Valley Chapter of the Professionals in Human Resources Association (PIHRA). The findings of the study were derived from a self-report questionnaire. Findings. The findings revealed it is appropriate to incorporate trustworthiness, respect, responsibility, fairness, and caring into performance appraisals; revisions are needed for the proposed items on the questionnaire to properly assess trustworthiness, responsibility, fairness, and caring; incorporating trustworthiness, respect, responsibility, fairness, and caring in performance appraisals is useful in evaluating an employee's overall performance; and citizenship should not be included in performance appraisals. Conclusions. The study showed the following conclusions: (1) it is appropriate to include ethics in performance appraisals; (2) it is clear how ethics can be assessed on a performance appraisal; (3) incorporating ethics in a performance appraisal is useful in evaluating employee performance; (4) it is not appropriate to include citizenship (included in the definition of ethics for this study) in performance appraisals. It is not clear how to adequately assess citizenship. Citizenship is not useful in evaluating an employee's overall performance. Recommendations. Recommendations for further study included a replication study in other areas of California and throughout the United States, a study to determine how to properly track and measure ethics, and the creation of an actual appraisal which includes ethics and could be used by any size and type of employer. The completion of these studies would ultimately lead to another future study to determine if companies that include ethics in their performance appraisals perform better than those companies that do not.