What Employees Seek From Feedback

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Towards a Goal Orientation-based Feedback-seeking Typology: Implications for Employee Performance Outcomes

The simple assumption about feedback is that it should let employees know where they stand on job performance, yet researchers have had difficulty proving this happens in practice. One recent study, however, has been able to demonstrate how feedback can play this goal by focusing on the varieties and nuances of feedback.

The study, by Yaping Gong, Mo Wang, Jia-Chi Huang and Siu Yin Cheung, looks at employees’ own goals from feedback and whether the feedback is positive or negative, and ties this to job performance.

While some employees have learning goals and seek feedback to help them improve, others are focused on performance goals related to ego support. The latter group seeks feedback that will either give them a favorable evaluation or help them to avoid a negative one. Additionally, employees of both orientations may seek feedback about others to support their goals, and their goals will lead to different responses to positive or negative feedback. All of this impacts job performance.

“Individuals with a strong learning orientation view competence as malleable so they see negative feedback as useful for improving competence; it thus does not increase their stress levels. Such individuals will alter strategies, increase effort and persist to overcome challenges or obstacles,” the authors said.