The renaissance of performance appraisal: engaging public employees through perceived developmental purpose and justice

Performance appraisal is recognized as a powerful human resource management (HRM) practice. However, its effectiveness depends on how public employees perceive appraisal systems. Based on the Social Exchange Theory, this study aims to empirically explore the impact of the perceived developmental purpose of performance appraisal on a relevant and critical individual attitude in public HRM literature, such as work engagement. Additionally, the study investigates perceived performance appraisal justice as a potential mediator of such a relationship. The analysis of an online survey administered to 1,482 Italian civil servants through a structural equation model shows that perceived developmental appraisal has a positive impact on the work engagement of public employees. This relationship is partially mediated by interactional performance appraisal justice perceptions, while distributive and procedural justice do not significantly affect work engagement. This contribution addresses specific research gaps in the public sector HRM literature. Our results suggest that public organizations can enhance engagement through perceived developmental, interactional, and fair performance appraisal systems.