Seek and Ye Shall Find: An Empirical Examination of the Effects of Seeking Real-Time Feedback on Employee Performance Evaluations

Many companies use real-time feedback applications to increase employee engagement with their performance evaluation programs and disseminate the results. Yet beyond giving and receiving employee feedback, important dynamics such as feedback-seeking behavior and feedback rating are not well addressed in the literature. To fill this gap, we examine employee behavior related to two dimensions of real-time feedback: (i) seeking performance feedback from supervisors, peers, and direct reports and (ii) evaluating the helpfulness of received performance feedback. Specifically, we examine the effects of feedback-seeking and rate-the-feedback behaviors on in-kind evaluations. After analyzing nearly 11,000 feedback instances from employees at four major organizations that use real-time performance feedback applications, we find that seeking feedback enhances constructive communication among colleagues. We show that feedback receivers who sought feedback receive lower feedback scores, have a higher likelihood of receiving comments, and receive longer, more positive, and more subjective comments. Feedback givers who opt not to provide comments or opt to provide shorter comments to feedback seekers choose to provide feedback anonymously. We document that feedback seekers care less about the high feedback scores and prefer longer comments when they rate received feedback. Low feedback scores received motivate feedback seekers to continue to seek feedback in the future. To address the endogeneity issues, we use identification approaches such as instrumental variable, matching, and Heckman-type analysis. Sought feedback may be more useable than unsolicited feedback because text-based feedback responses may provide sufficient insight for the recipient to act on. Hence, managers and organizations should promote a culture of constructive feedback through this feedback-seeking dynamic and orientation. When implementing feedback applications that allow for seeking and rating feedback, managers should be aware that feedback ratings can be informative, but feedback results might be notably lower when feedback is sought. Thus, based on our results, we identify several managerial insights that firms could use to manage feedback mechanisms.

History: Ravi Bapna, Senior Editor; Yili (Kevin) Hong, Associate Editor.

Supplemental Material: The online appendix is available at https://doi.org/10.1287/isre.2021.0130.