The Effects of Diverse Feedback Dynamics on Performance Improvement: A Typology of Performance Feedback Signals

Date01 January 2021
Published date01 January 2021
AuthorByung Hee Min,Ralph S. Brower,Youngmin Oh
DOI10.1177/0095399720933822
Subject MatterArticles
/tmp/tmp-188PwKThYsdiZm/input 933822AASXXX10.1177/0095399720933822Administration & SocietyMin et al.
research-article2020
Article
Administration & Society
2021, Vol. 53(1) 123 –157
The Effects of Diverse
© The Author(s) 2020
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Feedback Dynamics
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https://doi.org/10.1177/0095399720933822
DOI: 10.1177/0095399720933822
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on Performance
Improvement: A
Typology of Performance
Feedback Signals
Byung Hee Min1, Youngmin Oh2 ,
and Ralph S. Brower1
Abstract
This article illustrates managerial responses to different performance
feedback signals in decision-making processes for improving performance.
First, we conceptualize and illuminate distinctive dimensions of feedback
signals—internal feedback, external feedback, and comparative feedback
signals. Then, we test how these different feedback signals improve
performance of public-sector programs based on a 10-year panel data set
from the Korean Performance Assessment Rating Tool (K-PART). We find
that performance signals from sources internal to individual programs and
from external reference points of problem identification (social performance
comparison) affect program performance. This suggests an association
between internal management and social comparison mechanisms relative
to performance improvement. The novel contribution of this research lies
in promoting scholarship on performance management by identifying three
unique sources of performance feedback signaling.
1Florida State University, Tallahassee, USA
2Dongguk University, Seoul, Republic of Korea
Corresponding Author:
Youngmin Oh, Dongguk University, Jung-gu, Seoul 04620, Republic of Korea.
Email: dowhat50@dongguk.edu

124
Administration & Society 53(1)
Keywords
performance feedback signal, feedback response, K-PART, performance
improvement
Introduction
Research in both public and private organizations emphasizes that (public)
organizations search for new routes and solutions to promote better outcomes
(Cyert & March, 1963; Nielsen, 2014; Salge, 2011). Control theory in busi-
ness management and psychology indicates that managerial action is based
on goal attainment, and feedback plays a crucial role in setting certain goals
(Amaratunga & Baldry, 2002). Public management studies also underscore a
similar notion: Public organizations pay attention to goal setting and priori-
tizing strategies during their decision-making processes, and managerial
actions take place during feedback processes (Favero et al., 2016; Hong,
2019; Pasha et al., 2018; van Buuren & Gerrits, 2008).
During routine performance feedback processes, organizations pursue and
gather performance information in various ways to correct their actions based
on feedback-seeking and -receiving processes (Dahling & Whitaker, 2016).
Therefore, performance feedback is valuable performance information within
routine performance systems. Public officials only use performance feed-
back, however, when it becomes a crucial motivating factor for decision-
makers to improve organizational performance (Askim et al., 2008; Gerrish,
2016; Kroll, 2013; Moynihan, 2008; Moynihan & Landuyt, 2009; Moynihan
& Pandey, 2010; Pasha et al., 2018). More importantly, previous studies in
the public management arena have not fully and systematically demonstrated
how public officials respond to such performance feedback.
To address these research gaps, this study extends the extant theories of
behavioral change by capturing different feedback signaling effects that can
enable us to examine diverse managerial reactions to performance feedback
and their effects on program performance. Accordingly, we raise three funda-
mental research questions:
Research Question 1: What distinctive roles do different forms of perfor-
mance feedback signals play during public decision-making processes?
Research Question 2: How do various managerial responses toward dif-
ferent performance feedback signals consequently affect organizational
performance?
Research Question 3: What are the different mechanisms of performance
feedback signaling for high- and low-performing programs that affect per-
formance improvement?1

Min et al.
125
Extending the literature on performance information use added insights
into when and why managers use (or do not use) performance information
from performance feedback. Different factors in the organization and its
environment, such as public service motivation, leadership, organizational
culture, administrative flexibility, and information availability have been also
considered important antecedents of different managerial reactions to perfor-
mance feedback (e.g., Moynihan et al., 2017; Moynihan & Hawes, 2012;
Moynihan & Ingraham, 2004).
From the perspective that captures different motivating effects that can
affect organizational outcome, we extend this logic to examine the different
managerial responses to various types and sources of feedback as crucial
motivating factors. Notably, we try to unbundle and uncover possibilities
associated with the different types of performance feedback and outcome of
the managerial reactions at the program level. We presume that organiza-
tional actors shift their actions in response to performance feedback during
the routine feedback processes2
Consequently, we develop and test hypotheses suggesting that diverse
managerial responses to distinctive performance feedback will affect perfor-
mance improvement differently at the program level. This is because deci-
sion-makers reflect and react differently to particular forms of performance
feedback. Thus, we illuminate a variety of performance feedback signals:
internal management mechanisms, external intervention mechanisms, and
social and historical comparison mechanisms. Then, we hypothesize that
these three types of performance feedback signals are significantly related to
performance improvement. We further posit that various response mecha-
nisms from high- and low-performing groups’ reactions affect program per-
formance differently.
Our study offers several significant contributions. First, we present an
integrative perspective that explores the relationship between different feed-
back signals and performance improvement at the program level. Thereby,
we contribute to control and goal-setting theories by identifying diverse feed-
back response mechanisms. Second, we show the association between per-
formance feedback and performance improvement. Our findings promote
linking managerial reactions to performance feedback with performance out-
comes (e.g., Favero et al., 2016). Finally, our study provides evidence for a
more active account of public managerial decision making. Different factors,
drawn from diverse strategy research, need to be developed by unveiling why
managers engage in different strategic actions (e.g., different response strate-
gies) based on various forms and sources of performance feedback. We thus
suggest a strategy process by improving understanding about how distinctive
managerial responses promote better outcomes at the program level.

126
Administration & Society 53(1)
Theoretical Foundations
Managerial Responses to Performance Feedback Within
Routine Performance Systems
This article pays attention to managerial decision-making processes in public
organizations within routine performance systems at the program level.
Information in the feedback process is ubiquitous in public and private orga-
nizations and is generally designed to improve individual programs and orga-
nizational performance (Fedor, 1991; Taylor et al., 1984). Specifically,
program performance feedback reveals information about the effectiveness of
the processes, inputs, outputs, and outcomes on a program level. It is generally
assumed that program managers play an important role in interpreting, reflect-
ing on, and responding to performance feedback. Performance information in
the feedback process may, however, have little or no influence on future per-
formance when recipients do not use any information from performance feed-
back. The literature on performance information use has consistently shown
that managers rarely use the information in many contexts (e.g., Kroll, 2013;
Melkers & Willoughby, 2005; Moynihan & Lavertu, 2012). Nevertheless, we
pay attention to prior studies that indicate managers actively use performance
information under some conditions when information is valuable or managers
perceive dissatisfaction with their performance in the feedback process
(Askim et al., 2008; Gerrish, 2016; Kroll, 2013; Moynihan, 2008; Moynihan
& Landuyt, 2009; Moynihan & Pandey, 2010). Hence, the novelty of this
manuscript is to illuminate the different feedback mechanisms which capture
managerial reactions to various performance feedback signals.
Attempting to analyze the importance of using performance information
based on performance feedback, our approach is to focus on managerial
roles in the feedback processes to ensure successful programs and policies
(DeHart-Davis, 2009; Fernandez & Moldogaziev, 2013; Meier & O’ Toole,
2002; Pandey & Moynihan, 2006). Previous literature has discussed the dif-
ferent end-users of performance information. For instance, politicians are
perceived as final budget decision-makers who steer agencies and legitimize
their political preferences. Citizens are another type of end-users who seek
performance information about public services (Van Dooren & Van de
Walle, 2016, p. 2). In this study, we explore...

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