A series of studies was conducted to analyse the relationships between rating behaviour, rater goals and contextual variables, namely unit or class climate. Cleveland and Murphy (1992) suggested that errors and inter-rater disagreements in performance ratings could be understood in terms of differences in unit climate and the goals pursued by raters. In two studies, substantial correlations were found between self-rated goals and evaluations of instructor's performance; our second study provided evidence that goals measured before raters have an opportunity to observe performance are related to ratings obtained after observing instructor performance. A third study investigated Murphy and Cleveland's (1995) proposal that contextual variables, specifically organisational climate, affect rating behaviour. To test this hypothesis, data reflecting perceptions of the climate of college level courses and ratings of instructor performance were collected. Ratings of participative and co-operative climates showed a strong relationship with student ratings of instructors' performance. Average correlations between climate and ratings are substantially larger than those between rater goals and ratings; the mediation hypotheses tested in this study were not supported. Results of the three studies are discussed in relation to past research.