Perceived Fairness of the Mystery Customer Method: Comparing Two Employee Evaluation Practices

This study explores differences in the perceptions of fairness between two employee evaluation methods: one based on data collected using the mystery customer method and the other based on supervisor judgment. Fifty eight female sales clerks filled out a questionnaire which assessed their perceptions with respect to the fairness of the two evaluation methods and their job satisfaction. Given apparent differences in the evaluating agent, the extent of process consistency, the breadth of behaviors evaluated, and the extent of employees' awareness of the evaluation process, we hypothesize and find that evaluation procedures conducted by supervisors are perceived as more fair both procedurally and distributively than those conducted by means of the mystery customer method.The expected relationship between perception of fairness and job satisfaction was, however, foundonly in the correlations with supervisor evaluations and not in the correlations with the mystery customer evaluation method. Though the results are limited by the restricted sample, they shed an important light on the perceived fairness of the mystery customer procedure, and suggest that the choice of this procedure should take into account the fairness aspect of it when assessing its effectiveness and value. The data in this study was collected by Idit Malka and Michal Ben-Avi, for a research seminar conducted under the supervision of the second author.