Most research treated the feedback recipient as relatively passive; feedback was seen as being given to recipients and responses occurred based on individual differences, source characteristics and situational variables. This viewpoint was overly simplistic in that feedback recipients exist in information rich environments, and actively seek information about their performance using both direct and indirect strategies.
The main objectives of this thesis are as follows :
1) What factors influence subordinates' feedback seeking behavior ?
2) Does feedback inquiry improve the performance ?
Using self-report data from 191 R＆D professionals and their 54 supervisors from 10 public and private research institutes, Six major hypotheses and sixteen subhypotheses are tested empirically. Pearson correlation, multiple regression and Fisher's Z test are employed to test hypotheses.
The major findings and implications of this study are as follows :
1) Individual differences, source characteristics and situational variables were shown to have relationships with feedback seeking behavior.
2) The existence of the rule that the result of performance appraisal should be given to the subordinates affects the feedback inquiry positively.
3) Individuals who use feedback inquiry reveal higher levels of performance than those using feedback monitoring.
