Navigating the Feedback Paradox: Utilizing Feedback Preferences to Improve Feedback Reactions

Abstract

The feedback paradox – the concept that negative feedback should be the most useful is also the kind most likely to be rejected. There is hot debate amongst researchers and practitioners around the utility of negative feedback due to it tendency to illicit negative reactions. Utilizing feedback preferences to influence feedback reactions is a gap in the literature that needs to be explored. An experimental study was conducted to test if utilizing feedback preferences could improve recipient reactions to negative feedback. Participants were given a choice between two types of feedback (diagnostic or normative) and the type of feedback received was manipulated to test if receiving feedback that matched their preference was able to improve recipients’ satisfaction, perceptions of accuracy and motivation to use the feedback. Feedback orientation was also explored as a moderator of the effect between matching feedback preferences to reactions. Results indicated that participants preferred diagnostic feedback, and that providing diagnostic feedback to a recipient who preferred that kind, did lead to increased perceptions of accuracy and motivation to use the feedback. Results provide insights for both practitioners and educators around feedback preferences how they can be potentially utilized to improve feedback processes in organizational and educational settings.