Whoever Has Will be Given More: The Effect of Performance Information on Frontline Employees’ Support for Managerial Policy Initiatives

Abstract

Research has demonstrated how policy changes are bound to fail without the support of frontline employees. This study examines how performance information influences frontline employees’ support for managerial policy initiatives. We develop hypotheses stating that the exposure to positive and negative organizational performance scores compared to average scores increases frontline employees’ support for managerial policy initiatives and thus facilitate policy change. To test our hypotheses, we conduct a survey experiment on more than 1,500 social caseworkers working in Danish employment agencies. The results show that while the provision of positive organizational scores increases caseworkers’ support for managerial policy initiatives, there is no direct effect following the exposure of negative performance scores. However, additional exploratory analysis reveals that the caseworkers’ experienced work pressure moderates the effect of positive and negative performance information. Specifically, caseworkers that experience a high work pressure are more inclined to support managerial policy initiatives following positive and negative performance scores. Furthermore, the explorative analysis indicates that the caseworkers tend to ignore negative performance information, which strongly suggests that poor performance scores trigger identity-protective cognition. Overall, the study advances our understanding of the link between performance information and support of policy changes on the frontline of public services by showing how different performance scores influence employees’ support for managerial policy initiatives.

Broadcasting good news and learning from bad news: Experimental evidence on public managers' performance information use

“…Thus, the same PI is interpreted differently depending on whether it is presented as a “decline narrative” (performance is declining compared to previous performance) or an “increase narrative” (performance is improving compared to previous performance). Similar results have been found for citizens (Olsen, 2017), politicians (Baekgaard et al, 2019; George et al, 2020; Nielsen & Baekgaard, 2015), and frontline employees (Petersen, 2020; Petersen et al, 2019). Correspondingly, theoretical and observational studies on performance gaps suggest that public managers tend to focus their attention on areas with declining performance (Holm, 2018; Hong, 2019; Meier et al, 2015; Rutherford & Meier, 2015; Salge, 2011).…”

“…Other behavioral public administration research has shown that performance narratives play an important role in the interpretation of PI among public managers (Holm, 2017; Rutherford et al, 2020), citizens (Olsen, 2017), politicians (Baekgaard et al, 2019; George et al, 2020; Nielsen & Baekgaard, 2015), and frontline employees alike (Petersen, 2020; Petersen et al, 2019). These studies show that cognitive biases, particularly negativity bias, play an important role in how information is interpreted and evaluated.…”

“…Third, the article contributes with experimental evidence on how PI influences managerial decision‐making. While recent literature (George & Pandey, 2017; James & Van Ryzin, 2017; Nielsen & Baekgaard, 2015; Nielsen & Moynihan, 2017; Olsen, 2017; Petersen, 2020; Petersen et al, 2019) applies experimental approaches to examine PI use of citizens, politicians, and frontline employees, most studies on managers' use of PI are cross‐sectional (for a notable exception, see Holm, 2017).…”

Sampling in Management Studies of Public Organizations: Elite Orientation Model vs. Multiple Informants Model

“…The role of performance data on frontline employees' policy support was examined by Petersen (2020) [48]. The results revealed an imbalance in performance management systems.…”

Systemic support and environmental awareness in a normalised environmental management system consistent with ISO 14001

“…In terms of their effectiveness, it ought to be remembered that managers' initiatives also need to gain traction with the employees themselves (Petersen, 2020).…”