Technology, credibility, and feedback use

Abstract

This paper extends the literature of feedback use through an empirical examination of two central issues in the use of feedback: feedback credibility and technology as a feedback source. In a laboratory study, 55 subjects received performance feedback from one of four sources (organization, supervisor, and self-generated with or without the aid of a computer) while participating in a stock market simulation. The results of repeated-measures MANOVAs demonstrated that self-generated feedback (with or without the use of a computer) significantly influenced credibility of feedback, strategy acquisition, and performance. There was no support for the contention that technology-based feedback sources foster “technomindlessness.”