Organizational responses to performance feedback: A meta-analytic review

Abstract

Performance feedback theory has been recognized as a generative theory in organization and management studies that explains why, when, and how organizations initiate or discontinue specific strategic actions. Over the past decades, an extensive body of empirical research has tested the theory, refined its key tenets, and broadened its applications. Yet, empirical results on the effects of performance feedback often vary and even produce conflicting insights that are difficult to interpret. Following recent developments, we suggest that empirical controversies can be largely reconciled once we consider different performance feedback conditions, organizational actions, and boundary conditions. We conducted a meta-analytic review of 113 empirical studies to statistically evaluate how and why the effects of performance feedback may vary according to various factors. By identifying factors shaping organizational responses to performance feedback, this study helps integrate existing empirical evidence and offers new directions for future theoretical development and empirical research.