Feedback-seeking Behavior Research Articles

To Seek or Not to Seek: Is That the Only Question? Recent Developments in Feedback-Seeking Literature

In 1983, our understanding of feedback in organizations shifted from a focus on feedback from supervisors through the annual performance review to consider also the feedback information proactively sought by individuals as part of their everyday interactions within organizations ( Ashford & Cummings 1983 ). This article updates our understanding of the field of feedback-seeking behavior (FSB) since this literature was last reviewed in 2003, analyzes its current state, and suggests future research ideas. We begin by positioning feedback seeking within a broader theoretical context by relating it to proactivity, impression management, and individual adjustment. We then review what we currently know about who is more likely to seek feedback, as well as the contexts that stimulate such seeking. We then review the benefits and potential costs that might accompany feedback seeking, with regard to the person who is seeking it as well as the group. We conclude this review by identifying potentially fruitful avenues for further research and some key practical implications.

When can feedback-seeking behavior result in a better performance rating? Investigating the moderating role of political skill

ABSTRACTFeedback-seeking behavior is generally used to acquire job-related information that enables performance improvement. However, it can also be a form of impression management that improves an employee’s reputation. In this study, we show that employees who hold an image enhancement motive are more likely to seek feedback from their supervisors. Further, this feedback-seeking behavior mediates the relationship between the image enhancement motive and task performance ratings, consistent with the self-concept enhancing tactician (SCENT) model. However, we additionally incorporate socioanalytic theory to demonstrate that this indirect effect is moderated: the image enhancement motive translates into greater feedback-seeking behavior and task performance ratings only for employees with high political skill, who are capable of acting on their image enhancement motive successfully.

The Impact of Transformational Leadership on Feedback-seeking Behavior

As a new leadership model, transformational leadership style and the impact on employee behaviours have become hot topics in the field of organizational behaviour. Through the questionnaire surveys of 330 employees and their direct leaders, this study explored the relationship between transformational leadership style and feedback-seeking behaviour of employees, as well as examined the mediating role of organizational identity and the moderating effects of power distance. The result shows that: Transformational leadership can enhance the subordinates’ organizational identification, thus increase frequency of feedback-seeking behaviour; besides, power-distance controls this process negatively.

Stimulating Employees' Feedback-seeking Behavior: The Role of Participative Decision Making

Drawing upon psychological ownership theory, we examined the link between participative decision making and employees' feedback seeking from supervisors, by focusing on the mediating role of job-based psychological ownership. Analysis of data from 248 subordinatesupervisor dyads employed at 2 hotels in China showed that participative decision making was positively associated with employees seeking feedback from supervisors, and the relationship was mediated by job-based psychological ownership. In sum, our results suggest that participative decision making can serve as a managerial tool to stimulate, encourage, and foster employees' feedback-seeking behavior, and that the development of job-based psychological ownership can help with this process.

LMX-TMX (In)congruence in Newcomers' Feedback Seeking Behavior and Job Performance

Drawing on the social exchange theory and power-dependence perspective, this study explains how and when the (in)congruence effect of leader-member exchange (LMX) and team-member exchange (TMX) inf...

Mediating Effects of Feedback Seeking Behavior in the Relationships Individual Disposition and Job Performance

Mediating Effects of Feedback Seeking Behavior in the Relationships Individual Disposition and Job Performance

Behavioral mechanism and boundary conditions of transformational process

Purpose– The purpose of this paper is to examine a behavioral mechanism linking transformational leadership (TFL) and subordinates’ task performance and its boundary conditions. The authors examined the mediation role of subordinates’ feedback-seeking behavior and the interactive effect of self-efficacy and dyadic tenure on the transformational leadership-task performance link.Design/methodology/approach– Paper and pencil surveys were administered to 239 supervisor-subordinate dyads from different industries in Taiwan. Confirmatory factor analysis was conducted to test the discriminant validity of the main variables. Hierarchical linear regression and bootstrapping were used to examine the moderated mediation effect.Findings– First, subordinates’ feedback-seeking behavior mediates the relationship between TFL and subordinates’ task performance. Second, self-efficacy mitigates this mediation process when dyadic tenure is low, whereas self-efficacy enhances this mediation process when dyadic tenure is high.Research limitations/implications– The use of a cross-sectional design prevents us from drawing causal conclusions.Practical implications– This study suggests that for high-self-efficacy subordinates, organizations should try to shorten the period required to familiarize oneself with transformational leaders. In contrast, for low-self-efficacy subordinates, organizations should try to enhance their self-efficacy over time to ensure that they are capable of implementing transformational leaders’ expectations in the long run.Originality/value– This empirical study examines a behavioral mechanism in the TFL-task performance link. In addition, by addressing the interactive effect of TFL, self-efficacy and dyadic tenure, it resolves theoretical conflicts and enables us to better understand the effectiveness of TFL in different contexts. A Chinese sample is also unique and valuable.

Feedback to know, to show, or both? A profile approach to the feedback process

Learners seek feedback on their performance with varying motives. Using a latent profile analysis, we identified three subpopulations of college students with distinct patterns of feedback motives – instrumental isolated, undifferentiated, and instrumental enhancement. These groups differed in achievement goals, regulatory focus, and feedback orientation (Study 1, N=563). In Study 2 (N=294), we replicated the three profile groups and linked them to feedback-seeking behaviors. The instrumental enhancement profile group most frequently sought feedback across types of behaviors (monitoring, inquiry) and sources (peers, instructors). We discuss the implications of our findings for feedback research and practice involving learners in various contexts.

An exploratory study on the antecedents and consequences of workplace envy

The purpose of this study is to investigate two concepts of workplace envy - malicious envy and benign envy- and explore the factors influencing the types of envy. In addition, the study examined how malicious envy and benign envy, respectively, is related to behavioral consequences such as voice behavior, feedback seeking behavior, and social undermining. Using the data of 141 employees in 31 teams from 5 organizations in Korea, we found that three antecedents of workplace envy such as self-efficacy, affect-based trust, and cognition-based trust have positive relationship with benign envy and negative relationship with malicious envy. In addition, benign envy appears to increase voice behavior while malicious envy is related to social undermining behavior. The results imply that these two concepts exist in work settings, and have different behavioral outcomes.

An Exploratory Study on the Antecedents and Consequences of Workplace Envy

The purpose of this study is to investigate two concepts of workplace envy - malicious envy and benign envy- and explore the factors influencing the types of envy. In addition, the study examined how malicious envy and benign envy, respectively, is related to behavioral consequences such as voice behavior, feedback seeking behavior, and social undermining. Using the data of 141 employees in 31 teams from 5 organizations in Korea, we found that three antecedents of workplace envy such as self-efficacy, affect-based trust, and cognition-based trust have positive relationship with benign envy and negative relationship with malicious envy. In addition, benign envy appears to increase voice behavior while malicious envy is related to social undermining behavior. The results imply that these two concepts exist in work settings, and have different behavioral outcomes.

Utilizing Feedback: Helping Learners Make Sense of the Feedback They Get

Abstract Introduction Many learners continue to report not getting adequate feedback in both quality and quantity. Although many workshops have been developed to train faculty and other educators i...

팀 피드백 환경이 피드백 추구행동을 통해 업무성장활력과 팀 몰입에 미치는 영향

This study analyzed the effect of team feedback environment on feedback-seeking behavior, and further explored how feedback-seeking behavior led to the feeling of thriving at work and team commitment. Also, we examined the moderating effect of self-efficacy on the relationship between team feedback environment and feedback-seeking behavior. Using survey data from 201 workers employed in various industries in Korea, we found that team feedback environment was positively related to feedback-seeking behavior, and that the relationship was moderated by self-efficacy. In addition, feedback-seeking behavior was positively associated with the feeling of thriving at work and team commitment. The result suggests the importance of feedback-seeking behavior in improving performance as well as work attitude and energy. The result also emphasizes the critical role that team feedback environment plays, and the need to find ways to nurture the environment that fosters feedback seeking and giving.

Can good impression and feedback-seeking behavior help Chinese graduates get a job?

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the effect of feedback seeking (FBS) and impression management (IM) on candidates’ evaluative performance and final hiring decision in a recruiting assessment center (AC) by a multinational corporation (MNC) in China. Design/methodology/approach – The authors adopted a mixed-methods design. The authors first surveyed 234 candidates and 12 recruiting managers as assessors in four Chinese cities in one year. The authors then collected 23 candidates’ qualitative data in the forms of online blogs, diaries or letters sharing their recruitment experiences from 2005 to 2014. Findings – The quantitative results showed that both candidates’ FBS and IM behaviors were positively related to their evaluative performance, yet with no significant effects on hiring decision. However, the interaction of FBS and IM significantly reduced the likelihood of a positive evaluative performance and hiring decision. Qualitative findings showed that IM was adopted by the candidates, and encouraged by the firm in the initial period of AC. Implicit FBS behavior was also found in the qualitative data. Practical implications – The results offer important practical implications. For applicants, success in job search depends on one’s overall ability and capacity, while proper FBS and initial IM may be helpful to get in the race. At the firm level, MNCs need to adopt innovative strategies to win the “war for talent” in campus recruiting to cope with the deficiency in the educational focus. Originality/value – The authors adopted a mixed-methods approach to examining the dynamics of AC process in campus recruiting processes. This study is among the first examining the interactions of FBS and IM in the selection research.

Sales Control Systems and Behavioral Responses : Mediating Role of Regulatory Focus and Moderating Role of P-O Fit

Built on regulatory focus theory, this article develops a research model proposing the relationship between management controls (outcome, activity and capability), sales employees’ prevention and promotion focus and their behavioral responses (feedback seeking from different sources and relationship investment). The model also suggests that salesperson perceived organizational fit (P-O fit) contributes by influencing the situational self-regulatory mechanism based on regulatory fit theory. To analyze the data, a structural equation model procedure using LISREL 8.5 was employed. To access the potential common method bias, the MV” marker method was applied using a scale theoretically unrelated to at least one scale in the analysis as the MV marker. The results showed that the greater the salesperson’s perceived activity control system, the greater the extent of employee prevention focus. The findings also showed that output control and capability control system are positively related to the promotion focus of salespeople. Salespeople’s prevention focus relates negatively to the relational investment and positively to organization feedback seeking. The results indicate that salespeople who have promotion focus exhibit the predicted positive influence on their relationship investment. A significant contribution of this research framework is suggesting salesperson regulatory focus as a mediator and its’ effects on different types of sales-related behaviors. The author suggests that the motivational orientations of salespeople play key roles in shaping feedback seeking behaviors from different sources; broadly, that employees with a promotion focus will be more sensitive to customers’ feedback, and employees with a prevention focus will seek more feedback from the organization. Furthermore, salespeople with a promotion focus will invest more resources to build relationships with customers than salespeople with a prevention focus. This research also explains the moderating role of person-organization fit on the effect of salespeople’s regulatory focus and behavioral responses based on regulatory fit theory

Costs and Benefits of Newcomer Adjustment Tactics

Research on information seeking, feedback seeking, and newcomer proactive behavior reveals that employees use various criteria in deciding how to act. This article investigates an integrative framework for such criteria proposed by Cooper‐Thomas and Wilson, comprising three domains (performance, ego, social) and two factors (cost, benefit). Three independent scenario‐based studies were used to test their model. The results supported some propositions of the model, such as the primacy of performance concerns, yet failed to support other propositions, with benefits consistently predominating over costs. Factors that might underlie the contradictory results were systematically controlled for, namely the sample, hypothetical scenario, and initial asset position. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

건축공사 현장관리자 혁신행동에 영향을 미치는 개인적 요인

1) The competition of construction market is keener, so construction companies are seeking the methods for improving the performance. Construction field organizations and managers should have an innovative behavior to improve the performance. However, construction field organizations and managers are negative to innovation because they are generally conservative. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to analyze the factors to influence the innovative behavior of building construction field managers. In this study, self-leadership, feedback seeking behavior and job involvement are selected the factors to influence the innovative behavior by literature reviewing. The results of correlation analysis showed that the behavior-focused strategies in self-leadership and the job involvement influence the innovative behavior of building construction field managers. In addition, the individual characteristics such as marriage, experience, position and type of employ influence the innovative behavior of their. This study is expected to help to improve the performance management system in construction field organizations.

Is More Feedback Seeking Always Better? Leader-Member Exchange Moderates the Relationship Between Feedback-Seeking Behavior and Performance

Feedback is information made available to employees in their work environment, whereas feedback-seeking behaviors (FSBs) help employees to evaluate proactively whether their work has met performance standards and their behavior is considered appropriate. Prior studies have provided a perspective on how the feedback-seeking contexts affect the emergence and development of FSBs. In this study, we extend that perspective by investigating when FSBs affect job performance so that we can understand whether more feedback seeking is always better. Adopting the relational view of leadership, we hypothesize that the FSB-performance relationship should be stronger for employees with low leader-member exchange (LMX) and in groups with low aggregate LMX and low LMX differentiation. Using a multilevel research design and a sample of 379 teachers in 25 groups, we find support for most of our hypotheses. We discuss the implications of the study for the FSB and the proactive behavior literature and suggest avenues for future research.

Effects of feedback motives on inquiry and performance

Purpose– The purpose of this paper is to examine how two motives for feedback-seeking behavior, the instrumental and image enhancement motives, impact the feedback-seeking process and supervisor ratings of task performance.Design/methodology/approach– Correlational data were collected from supervisor-subordinate dyads and analysed with path analysis.Findings– Results show that perceptions of a supportive supervisory feedback environment are associated with both higher instrumental and image enhancement motives. The instrumental motive fully mediates the relationship between the feedback environment and feedback-seeking behavior. However, the positive effect of feedback-seeking behavior on task performance ratings made by supervisors is only significant when the image enhancement motive is low. Contrary to expectations, no direct or moderating effects were found for the instrumental motive on performance ratings.Practical implications– These results demonstrate that many instances of feedback-seeking behavior are motivated by a desire to enhance one’s public image, and that high image enhancers can earn strong performance ratings even with low feedback-seeking behavior. Overall, the findings highlight the critical importance of measuring employees’ motives in research on feedback and performance management.Originality/value– This is the first study to explicitly examine how motives mediate and moderate the relationships between feedback environment perceptions, feedback-seeking behavior, and performance in the workplace. The findings suggest that future research on feedback-seeking behavior should measure and model the effects of motives on feedback processes.

The Influencing Mechanisms of Authentic Leadership on Feedback-Seeking Behaviour: A Cognitive/Emotive Model

In this paper, we first examine the relationship between authentic leadership and employee’s feedback-seeking behaviour. Following this we offer two perspectives to explain how and why authentic leadership promotes feedback-seeking behaviour. We suggest, from a cognitive perspective, that such leadership can influence the employees’ beliefs concerning the perceived value and cost of feedback seeking and in turn increase the likelihood of employees proactively engaging in such behaviour. We further argue that emotions also play a significant role in this process. We propose that feedback-seeking behaviour could also be promoted by authentic leaders through a mechanism of cultivating the employees’ positive emotions. We conclude by drawing out the theoretical contributions as well as the practical implications from this dual-perspective model, alongside a discussion of the promising directions for future research.

The impact of future time orientation on employees’ feedback-seeking behavior from supervisors and co-workers: The mediating role of psychological ownership

AbstractFuture time orientation is essential if an employee is to be motivated to conduct activities that generate long-term rather than immediate gain, and which may involve risk. Given that feedback seeking requires the employee to slow down and seek input, it is surprising that little is known about the relationship between future time orientation and feedback seeking. Drawing upon psychological ownership theory and construal-level theory, we hypothesized a positive influence of future time orientation on feedback seeking from various sources (i.e., supervisors and co-workers). We also hypothesized job-based psychological ownership as a newly identified motive of feedback seeking and employed it to explain how future time orientation exerts influences. Tested with data from a sample of 228 subordinate–supervisor dyads from China, the results revealed that (1) future time orientation was positively related to feedback seeking from supervisors and co-workers and (2) job-based psychology ownership mediated the relationship between future time orientation and feedback seeking.