Feedback Environment Reactions: Linking Feedback Environment to Outcomes in a Cross-Cultural Sample

Abstract

As attention on the social context has increased, feedback models have begun to expand the role of attitudes, affect, and perceptions of justice in feedback processes. Consistent with prior descriptions of reactions to traditional performance appraisals, we define reactions to the feedback environment as evaluations related to the context of informal day-to-day feedback, at the individual level. We believe that reactions to the feedback environment provide a key explanatory mechanism linking the environment to outcomes. The present study replicates and tests a framework for understanding the feedback environment, predicting outcomes such as engagement, embeddedness, and feedback-seeking behaviors through reactions to the feedback environment. We also consider feedback orientation, defined as an individual’s overall receptivity to feedback, to have a strengthening effect on the proposed relationships. Using 253 executive MBA students from 37 countries, results show significant mediational relationships in which the feedback environment influences embeddedness, engagement, and inquiry-feedback seeking through reactions to the feedback environment. Discussion of implications for engagement, embeddedness, and feedback-seeking behaviors follow.