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Why Do I Seek Negative Feedback? Assessment Orientation, Self-Criticism, and Negative Feedback-Seeking
Zhaoyan Liu1, Qinghong Yuan1, Shanshan Qian2
1Business School, Nankai University, Tianjin, China.
Employees seeking negative feedback is driven by assessment orientation, which promotes self-criticism. Participative leadership further strengthens this effect, enhancing employee performance improvement.
Area of Science:
- Organizational Behavior
- Management Psychology
Background:
- Negative feedback is crucial for employee performance improvement.
- Limited research exists on the motivational factors driving employees to seek negative feedback.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the role of assessment orientation in negative feedback-seeking behavior.
- To examine the mediating effect of self-criticism and the moderating effect of participative leadership.
Main Methods:
- A two-wave lagged survey study was conducted.
- Data were collected from 216 Chinese employees.
- Statistical analyses were used to test the proposed relationships.
Main Results:
- Assessment orientation positively correlates with negative feedback-seeking, mediated by self-criticism.
- Higher participative leadership strengthens the positive effect of assessment orientation on self-criticism.
- Higher participative leadership enhances the indirect effect of assessment orientation on negative feedback-seeking via self-criticism.
Conclusions:
- Assessment orientation is a key motivational factor for seeking negative feedback.
- Self-criticism acts as a mediator in this relationship.
- Participative leadership can amplify the benefits of assessment orientation for feedback-seeking behavior.
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