Attitudinal and Behavioral Outcomes of an Upward Feedback Process

A pretest-posttest design was used at a large telecommunications firm whereby a 6-month interval separated the first and second rounds of an upward feedback administration. The purpose was to examine outcomes including perceived usefulness of the process, additional feedback- seeking behavior on the part of recipients, and optimal uses of upward feedback information. Results indicated that managers who receive lower formal appraisal scores from their bosses are more likely to perceive an upward feedback process to be useful. Furthermore, those managers receiving lower subordinate ratings are more likely to seek clarification through additional feedback. In addition, subordinates are more likely than managers to believe that upward feedback scores should be incorporated into formal performance appraisal. These beliefs are accentuated when either upward feedback or formal appraisal scores (i.e., by superiors) are lower. Upward feedback scores appear to possess convergent validity in that subordinate ratings were correlated with formal appraisal scores.