How much feedback do employees need? A field study of absolute feedback frequency reports and performance

Abstract

Abstract Scholars and practitioners in the field of performance management have advocated an increase in the exchange of feedback in the workplace. Practitioners would benefit from guidelines about appropriate feedback frequencies, but the current literature does not offer much guidance. Our study investigates how self‐reports of absolute frequencies relate to performance and job satisfaction. In a sample of diverse organizations, employees reported, on average, 3.8 feedback conversations in 3 weeks. Contrary to earlier suggestions that there might be an optimal feedback frequency, we find support for the notion that more feedback is better, without any indication of a downward trend at the highest feedback frequency. Our findings suggest that leader–member exchange may be one underlying mechanism that mediates this relationship.