When your supervisor underperforms: the role of process feedback and the formality of feedback
Stouthuysen, Kristof Slabbinck, Hendrik Distelmans, Tineke
Stouthuysen, Kristof
Slabbinck, Hendrik
Distelmans, Tineke
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Conference Presentation
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Supervisor
Publication Year
2021
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Abstract
This study investigates the role of process feedback as a mechanism to motivate employees after a period of underperformance. We examine whether process feedback, following negative outcome feedback has a positive influence on employees’ willingness to improve performance, and whether this effect differs across organizational roles and the nature of the feedback provided. Based on an experiment and field survey, we find evidence that process feedback encourages employees to improve future performance and this effect becomes further pronounced for employees in a non-supervisory role. For supervisors, though, we find that the relationship between process feedback and future performance improvements is crucially dependent on the formality of feedback. Specifically, underperforming supervisors are more likely to positively react to process feedback when the feedback is generated in a formal way (e.g., by a formalized information system) while the opposite holds for underperforming non-supervisory employees. We also provide evidence that this interaction effect is mediated by feedback acceptance.
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Keywords
Process Feedback, Role Theory, Formal Nature of Feedback