Exploring the processes through which feedback affects productivity

Although Industrial/Organizational research has demonstrated that performance feedback improves performance, competing opinions have been offered to explain this effect. The purpose of this research is to test the explanations offered by role theory, expectancy theory, cognitive evaluation theory, reinforcement theory, and individual goal setting within the framework of an overall theory of organizational behavior. The data for this study comes from a field experiment in which the present investigator was involved (Pritchard, Bigby, Beiting, Coverdale, & Morgan, Note 4). The design of the study consisted of three phases: a baseline period, followed by two experimental conditions in which different combinations of feedback and goal setting procedures were instituted. Attitude data were collected near the end of each of the three phases, and performance data were collected daily on four measures throughout the entire study. The results provided support for the hypothesis that feedback increases performance by leading to the setting of individual performance goals. This conclusion has already received much support in the literature. However, the important differences in the presentation of the feedback in this versus previous studies are discussed. [...]