Premium
A LONGITUDINAL STUDY OF UPWARD FEEDBACK
Author(s) -
REILLY RICHARD R.,
SMITHER JAMES W.,
VASILOPOULOS NICHOLAS L.
Publication year - 1996
Publication title -
personnel psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 6.076
H-Index - 142
eISSN - 1744-6570
pISSN - 0031-5826
DOI - 10.1111/j.1744-6570.1996.tb01586.x
Subject(s) - psychology , control (management) , longitudinal study , social psychology , statistics , management , economics , mathematics
This study followed 92 managers during four administrations of an upward feedback program over 2.5 years. Managers' whose initial level of performance (defined as the average rating from subordinates) was low improved between Administrations 1 and 2, and sustained this improvement 2 years later. Most of the performance improvement occurred between the first and second administrations of the program. The observed performance improvement could not be attributed solely to regression to the mean and was unrelated to the number of times, or when, the managers received feedback. Our results suggest that the continued administration of an upward feedback program can result in sustained change over a fairly long period of time and that actually receiving feedback may be less important than the exposure to the valued behaviors. We use control theory and goal setting theory as frameworks for explaining the results and suggesting directions for future research.