Unpacking leader feedback-seeking behavior: A cost-value perspective on workplace coaching, psychological safety, and...

Leaders are encouraged to seek feedback as a pathway to growth, yet not all feedback-seeking reflects genuine developmental intent. Although the cost-value model of feedback-seeking recognizes both informational and image-related motives, little theory explains when, and for whom, each motive dominates leader feedback-seeking behavior (FSB). This conceptual paper addresses that gap by integrating workplace coaching, psychological safety, and the personality trait of Honesty-Humility (HH) within the cost-value model. Workplace coaching is theorized to raise the perceived value of leader FSB through two pathways: (1) building the interpersonal competencies that feedback conversations require, and (2) strengthening self-efficacy through guided practice and reflection. Psychological safety perceived in the broader work environment is proposed to amplify this effect by reducing the ego and self-presentation costs of seeking feedback, enabling leaders to act on coaching-derived readiness. HH is then introduced as a moderator shaping not merely whether leaders seek feedback, but why. Although coaching and psychological safety may raise FSB frequency across leaders, those lower in HH are theorized to use these conditions primarily for strategic impression management, whereas those higher in HH are theorized to seek feedback with developmental intent less contingent on context. The framework thus extends the cost-value model, identifies psychological safety as a contextual amplifier, and positions HH as a boundary condition determining whether supportive developmental contexts foster genuine growth or strategic self-presentation.