How is Feedback-Seeking Behavior Interpreted? The Influence of Feedback-Seeking Pattern and Feedback Source’s Characteristics on Impression Formation and Performance Evaluations

This study examined how feedback seekers’ and targets’ characteristics affect how feedback-seeking acts are evaluated. We studied how two aspects of the pattern of feedback seeking, the sign of the feedback sought (positive versus negative) and the frequency of seeking (frequent versus infrequent) interact with the performance history of the feedback seeker to affect impressions formed by feedback targets. In addition, we assessed how the target characteristic of implicit person theory affects feedback-seeking attributions and how this relationship is shaped by the pattern of seeking. Results indicate that the pattern of feedback seeking is a relevant moderator of the effects of the seeker’s performance history and targets’ implicit person theories on targets’ impressions of feedback seeking. In addition, the results show that targets’ attributions for feedback seeking are one of the underlying mechanisms explaining why feedback-seeking behavior affects important organizational outcomes.