Demand-Driven Feedback: Effects on Evaluations of Performance and Potential

In demand-driven feedback systems, employees receive performance feedback only upon request, and the feedback employees receive from other employees is commonly shared with the supervisor. In this study, I investigate which employees choose to provide their supervisor with evaluation-relevant information about themselves by requesting feedback, and how this information is used by supervisors in their subjective evaluations of employees. I predict that high performers are more likely to request feedback in a demand-driven feedback system, and that the feedback is informative for evaluations of performance while the feedback request is informative for evaluations of potential. Using data from a large European company, I find support for these predictions. My results suggest that demand-driven feedback systems can be used as an additional source of information for evaluation and resource allocation purposes. However, they may not be effective in supporting the performance development of most employees and low performers in particular when feedback is shared with evaluators.

Solo-authored job market paper. Current draft available upon request.