Does Feedback Seeking Always Improve Performance? Investigating the Roles of Feedback Seeking Content and Frequency in Determining Goal Achievement and Behavior-Related Performance

Figures & Tables

	Task performance					Updating knowledge and skills					Facing challenges
	M1	M2	M3	M4	M5	M1	M2	M3	M4	M5	M1	M2	M3	M4	M5
Age	−0.06	−0.06	−0.06	−0.06	−0.06	0.05	0.05	0.04	0.04	0.04	−0.16	−0.17	−0.16	−0.16	−0.17
Gender	0.02	0.03	0.02	0.02	0.02	0.12 ^*	0.12 ^*	0.13 ^*	0.13 ^*	0.13 ^*	−0.01	−0.01	−0.01	−0.02	−0.03
Education-dummy 1	−0.17 ^*	−0.16 ^*	−0.14 ^*	−0.13 ^*	−0.13 ^*	0.13	0.12	0.10	0.10	0.10	−0.01	0.00	0.02	0.02	0.02
Education-dummy 2	0.08	0.07	0.09	0.09	0.09	−0.09	−0.09	−0.10	−0.10	−0.10	0.06	0.06	0.07	0.07	0.07
Experience	−0.05	−0.04	−0.04	−0.04	−0.04	−0.08	−0.09	−0.08	−0.08	−0.07	0.05	0.07	0.06	0.05	0.07
Organizational experience	0.11	0.11	0.14	0.13	0.13	0.12	0.12	0.10	0.10	0.10	0.01	0.02	0.04	0.05	0.06
Salary	−0.06	−0.06	−0.05	−0.05	−0.05	0.01	0.01	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.09	0.09	0.10	0.10	0.07
Department-research	−0.15 ^*	−0.15 ^*	−0.16 ^*	−0.16 ^*	−0.16 ^*	0.03	0.03	0.04	0.05	0.05	0.03	0.03	0.02	0.02	0.02
Department-staff	−0.04	−0.04	−0.03	−0.03	−0.03	0.10	0.10	0.09	0.09	0.09	−0.09	−0.09	−0.08	−0.08	−0.07
Feedback seeking frequency	-	0.07	0.03	0.03	0.03	-	−0.05	−0.02	−0.02	−0.02	-	0.09	0.05	0.05	0.04
Diagnostic	-	-	0.30 ^**	0.29 ^**	0.29 ^**	-	-	−0.24 ^**	−0.25 ^**	−0.25 ^**	-	-	0.28 ^**	0.31 ^**	0.33 ^**
Normative	-	-	-	0.03	0.02	-	-	-	0.02	0.02	-	-	-	−0.06	−0.02
Assurance	-	-	-	-	0.01	-	-	-	-	−0.01	-	-	-	-	−0.11
R ²	0.10	0.11	0.19	0.19	0.19	0.06	0.07	0.12	0.12	0.12	0.03	0.04	0.11	0.12	0.13
ΔR ²	0.10 ^**	0.00	0.09 ^**	0.00	0.00	0.06 ^*	0.00	0.06 ^**	0.00	0.00	0.03	0.01	0.07 ^**	0.00	0.01

To what extent have you sought out feedback on your performance during assignments?

To what extent have you sought feedback on your performance after assignments?

To what extent have you asked for your boss's opinion of your work?

To what extent have you solicited critiques from your boss?

Task performance 1 ^a	I managed to plan my work so that it was done on time
Task performance 2	My planning was optimal
Task performance 3	I was able to perform my work well with minimal time and effort
Task performance 4	I started new tasks myself, when my old ones were finished
Task performance 5	I was able to separate main issues from side issues at work
Updating knowledge and skills 1	I worked at keeping my job skills up-to-date
Updating knowledge and skills 2	I worked at keeping my job knowledge up-to-date
Updating knowledge and skills 3	I came up with creative solutions to new problems
Facing challenges 1	I took on challenging work tasks, when available
Facing challenges 2	I kept looking for new challenges in my job

FSB	Feedback seeking behavior
IWP	Individual work performance
VIF	Variance inflation factor
MAP	Minimum average partial
df	Degree of freedom
GFI	Goodness of fit
AGFI	Adjusted goodness of fit
CFI	Comparative fit index
RMSEA	Root mean square error of approximation
SRMR	Standardized root mean square residual

	1	2	3	4	5	6
1. FSB frequency	-	-	-	-	-	-
2. Diagnostic FSB	0.16 ^**	-	-	-	-	-
3. Normative FSB	0.09	0.51 ^**	-	-	-	-
4. Assurance FSB	−0.03	0.36 ^**	0.43 ^**	-	-	-
5. Task performance	0.09	0.30 ^**	0.22 ^**	0.16 ^**	-	-
6. Facing challenges	0.07	0.26 ^**	0.09	−0.03	0.40 ^**	-
7. Updating knowledge and skills	−0.07	−0.26 ^**	−0.15 ^**	−0.11	−0.57 ^**	−0.52 ^**

Which feedback do you seek from your manager?	Factors
Item	1 diagnostic	2 normative	3 assurance
The feedback that compares me to my job performance criteria	0.85	0.01	−0.08
The feedback that measures me against the initial goals (first 3 months or first project or …) that we set with my manager	0.78	−0.03	0.00
Feedback based on the agreement between my manager and me about the necessary actions for progress	0.78	−0.01	−0.05
The feedback that appraises my performance in my tasks	0.75	0.04	0.02
Feedback based on my past performance appraisal forms	0.53	0.02	0.15
The feedback that compares me to peers in other units	−0.06	0.95	−0.02
The feedback that compares me to other people in my unit	−0.01	0.87	−0.03
The feedback that shows my situation compared to previous successful people in this job	0.11	0.65	0.07
The feedback that focuses on my strengths and reveals my weaknesses less, so that I feel better about my performance	0.01	−0.02	0.86
The feedback that focuses on my strengths rather than my weaknesses	−0.01	0.03	0.84
Initial eigenvalues	4.35	1.69	1.30
Cronbach's α	0.86	0.87	-
Spearman–Brown (for two-item scale) ^a	-	-	0.84