Doctoral Dissertations

Date of Award

8-1996

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy

Major

Industrial and Organizational Psychology

Major Professor

Michael C. Rush

Committee Members

Joyce Russell, Tom Ladd, Mike Johnson, Greg Dobbins

Abstract

The purpose for this study was to explore predictors and outcomes of managers’ behavioral responses to subordinate appraisal feedback. Building on subordinate appraisal, performance appraisal, and feedback literatures, the study explored whether several feedback context (i.e., top management support, span of control, perceptions of reorganization), feedback recipient (i.e., job involvement), feedback source (i.e. rater credibility), and feedback message (i.e., overall subordinate rating; discrepancy between subordinate and self ratings) variables were predictors of managers’ behavioral responses to subordinate feedback (i.e., information gathering and action planning). Further, the study explored whether feedback acceptance mediated the relationships between some of these predictors (i.e., rater credibility, overall rating, and discrepancy) and managers’ behavioral responses to feedback. Finally, the relationships between managers’ behavioral responses to feedback and subordinates’ perceptions of the utility of the system were investigated. One-hundred seventy-eight managers (ratees) and 1519 subordinates (raters) participated in the study. Data were collected on five survey instruments which were administered before, during, and after the subordinate appraisal process. These surveys included a pretest survey, self appraisal rating survey, subordinate appraisal rating survey, reaction to feedback survey, and posttest survey. In addition, objective measures of span of control were obtained from the organization. Results provided some support for the study hypotheses. Overall subordinate rating was positively related to managers’ behavioral responses to feedback and accounted for significant variance after controlling for the effects of all other predictors. Rating discrepancy, however, was not related to behavioral responses to feedback after controlling for main effects of overall self and subordinate ratings. Span of control and perceptions of reorganization received mixed support, with initial evidence showing that, as hypothesized, both variables had a negative relationship to managers’ behavioral responses to feedback However, after controlling for feedback message variables (Le., overall subordinate raring and discrepancy between self and subordinate ratings), these two variables did not account for significant variance. Finally, managers’ behavioral responses to feedback (i.e., information gathering and action planning) were significantly related to subordinates’ perceptions of the utility of the appraisal system. Hypotheses for job involvement, top management support, rater credibility, and feedback acceptance were not supported. Specifically, job involvement, top management support, rat» credibility, and feedback acceptance were not significantly related to whether managers demonstrated behavioral responses to feedback. In addition, none of the hypotheses regarding the potential mediating effect of feedback acceptance were supported. Limitations of the study, directions for future research, and study implications of these findings were discussed.

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