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

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.