Effects of feedback sign and credibility on goal setting and task performance

Abstract Despite previous research on feedback sign and feedback accuracy, little is known about the main and interactive effects of these two feedback dimensions on specific types of cognitive and behavioral responses. The present laboratory study used 90 undergraduate students to examine the influence of feedback sign and feedback credibility on goal setting and task performance. Consistent with propositions derived from social learning theory and control theory, the results showed that feedback sign had a main effect on subjects' performance. Subjects who received negative feedback performed at higher levels than subjects who received positive feedback. In addition, feedback sign was found to interact with feedback credibility to influence subjects' self-set goals and performance. Subjects who received more credible negative feedback set higher goals and performed at higher levels than subjects who received less credible negative feedback, while subjects who received more credible positive feedback did not set higher goals or perform significantly better than subjects who received less credible positive feedback. The findings also suggest that feedback sign combines with both ability and self-efficacy to determine task performance.

[1]  D. Ilgen,et al.  Individual's reactions to performance feedback in organizations: A control theory perspective , 1984 .

[2]  Wayne D. Hoyer,et al.  Source credibility, information favorability, and job offer acceptance , 1979 .

[3]  D. Ilgen,et al.  Performance satisfaction as a function of the difference between expected and reported performance at five levels of reported performance. , 1972 .

[4]  Robert F. Kidd,et al.  Manipulation checks: Advantage or disadvantage? , 1976 .

[5]  M. Taylor,et al.  Consequences of individual feedback on behavior in organizations. , 1979 .

[6]  E. A. Locke,et al.  The relationship of intentions to level of performance. , 1966, The Journal of applied psychology.

[7]  A. Bandura.  Social learning theory , 1977 .

[8]  Akinori Okada,et al.  Mechanism of feedback affecting task performance , 1983 .

[9]  D. L. Jennings,et al.  When experiences of failure promote expectations of success: The impact of attribution failure to ineffective strategies1 , 1980 .

[10]  A. Bandura.  Social Foundations of Thought and Action: A Social Cognitive Theory , 1985 .

[11]  A. Bandura.  Self-efficacy mechanism in human agency , 2024, Psihologìâ ì suspìlʹstvo.

[12]  A. Bandura,et al.  Differential engagement of self-reactive influences in cognitive motivation , 1986, Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes.

[13]  J. Elashoff,et al.  Multiple Regression in Behavioral Research. , 1975 .

[14]  A. Bandura,et al.  Self-evaluative and self-efficacy mechanisms governing the motivational effects of goal systems. , 1983 .

[15]  Edwin A. Locke,et al.  Effect of self-efficacy, goals, and task strategies on task performance. , 1984 .

[16]  D. A. Kenny,et al.  Correlation and causality , 1979 .

[17]  A. Bandura,et al.  Cognitive processes mediating behavioral change. , 1977, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[18]  E. A. Locke,et al.  Goal setting and task performance: 1969–1980. , 1981 .

[19]  Dianna L. Stone,et al.  The effects of feedback consistency and feedback favorability on self-perceived task competence and perceived feedback accuracy , 1985 .

[20]  C. Carver,et al.  Reassertion and giving up: The interactive role of self-directed attention and outcome expectancy. , 1979 .

[21]  W. Hryniuk.  More is better. , 1988, Journal of clinical oncology : official journal of the American Society of Clinical Oncology.

[22]  M. A. Campion,et al.  A control systems conceptualization of the goal-setting and changing process , 1982 .

[23]  Miriam Erez,et al.  Feedback: A necessary condition for the goal setting-performance relationship. , 1976 .

[24]  Edwin A. Locke,et al.  Studies of the relationship between satisfaction, goal-setting, and performance , 1970 .

[25]  C. Carver,et al.  Attention and Self-Regulation: A Control-Theory Approach to Human Behavior , 1981 .

[26]  Dianna L. Stone,et al.  The Effects of Multiple Sources of Performance Feedback and Feedback Favorability on Self-Perceived Task Competence and Perceived Feedback Accuracy , 1984 .