Managers‘ Feedback Provision to Employees: The Impact of Feedback Culture and Employee Performance on Feedback Scope and Feedback Content
Abstract
In addition to formal feedback, managers’ provision of informal feedback such as direct, task-related feedback is crucial in organizations, especially in dynamically evolving environments. Despite its importance, managers often hesitate to provide such feedback to their employees because the provision is time-consuming and hardly controllable. Drawing from the theory of reasoned action, this experimental study explores how (1) a company’s feedback culture and (2) employee performance affect managers’ cost-benefit-balance and, consequently, their decision to provide feedback and the respective feedback scope. As predicted, I find that the feedback scope is greater when the feedback culture encourages informal feedback than when it does not. Further, I show that the feedback scope increases when employee performance declines. Lastly, I also predict and find that the company’s feedback culture moderates the effect of performance level on feedback scope. Additionally, I perform a textual analysis of the feedback content to show how managers adjust the content and purpose of their feedback provided depending on the two factors investigated. My findings help corporate management and management accountants who implement effective informal feedback processes and cultivate an organizational culture that supports managers’ feedback provision.