This study aims to provide empirical evidence of how supervisors’ positive feedback plays a crucial role in newcomers’ task performance in the first 90 days of their employment.
Data for this study were collected from newcomers and their immediate supervisors in a large high-tech manufacturing company in northern China. The study used a structured questionnaire to gather data from 229 newcomer-supervisor dyads, which were analysed through the application of structural equation modelling.
The findings revealed that supervisors’ positive feedback positively affects newcomers’ task performance. The supervisors’ positive feedback enhances the task performance of newcomers’ by promoting energy and information seeking at work. In addition, the study also revealed that intrinsic motivation as a moderator strengthens the relationship between supervisors’ positive feedback and newcomers’ energy at work.
Organiszations should place emphasis on supervisors’ positive feedback and newcomers’ level of intrinsic motivation in order to attain better performance in the workplace.
This study highlights the need for organisations to pay attention to the dual roles of supervisors’ positive feedback and the intrinsic motivation of newcomers’ in improving task performance. Supervisors’ positive feedback boosts newcomers’ energy at work and aids their task performance when intrinsic motivation is high rather than low.
Feedback is one of the most constructive inputs in any learning process (Kuchinke,
In light of the above, this article develops different ways of improving feedback. First, empirical research on the contribution of positive feedback and its contextual antecedents has remained scarce (Krasman,
To investigate the effects of supervisors’ positive feedback on newcomers’ task performance, we adopted the conservation of resources (COR) theory (Hobfoll,
We also consider the intrinsic motivation responses to supervisors’ positive feedback. According to COR theory (Hobfoll,
The study makes three fruitful contributions to the extant literature. First, we contribute to the COR theory by exploring the effects of supervisors’ positive feedback on newcomers’ task performance. It has been argued that feedback helps employees to perform well (Smither & London,
Finally, we contribute to studies on supervisors by examining the effects of the supervisors’ positive feedback on newcomers’ task performance. On the one hand, the positive feedback they receive from their supervisors’ makes newcomers highly energetic and successful in terms of information seeking. On the other hand, because of supervisors’ positive feedback, newcomers may experience feeling of overconfidence, which makes them less sensitive to information seeking and leads to poor results in task performance.
Feedback has the power to create a positive working team in the workplace (Li et al.,
The first part of the model depicted in
Conceptual model.
Individuals frequently have imperfect information about their performance and, abilities, and may even have incorrect information about others (Moore & Healy,
The literatures posits that, feedback is key to achieving better results in the workplace (Linderbaum & Levy,
Intrinsic motivation causes the act of doing something without any external reward (Ryan & Deci,
On the other hand, because of motivation, some individuals experience overconfidence and want to be better than others in regard to different issues, such as honesty (Brown,
Although there are rapid improvements being made in this area, investigations into situational factors that affect newcomers’ information seeking are limited (Ashford & Dark,
Many researchers have argued that overconfidence has a negative effect on employees’ performance in the workplace. First, a study on trade performance suggested that there is a negative relationship between overconfidence and information seeking because overconfident workers underestimate market uncertainty (Biais,
Information seeking can enhance employees’ performance and narrow the gap between employees’ knowledge and performance (Khaddage, Knezek, & Baker,
Information access is often considered as better direction for employees (Arnone, Cascio, & Parenti,
Data were collected in four rounds, each round separated by 15-days, from newcomers and their immediate supervisors in a large high-tech manufacturing company in northern China. ‘Newcomers’ in our context refers to employees who joined the company less than 6 months ago. Initially, we visited the company in order to obtain permission from the CEO to conduct the study. After receiving permission in collaboration with the company’s human resource department (HRD), we described the aim of the study, invited respondents, and assured the confidentiality of their responses. Based on the list of respondents obtained from the HRD we assigned numbers to each newcomer and their direct supervisors in order to identify newcomer-supervisor dyads. Measurement instruments used for data collection were in English. To check the reliability and validity of our measurements, we used double translation method (Brislin,
Surveys were sent to 322 newcomers and their supervisors at four separate intervals. A gap of 2 weeks was maintained between each of the four rounds of data collection to minimise potential common method bias and reduce respondent fatigue (Podsakoff, MacKenzie, Lee, & Podsakoff,
Supervisors’ positive feedback was evaluated by newcomers using a scale from Steelman, Levy and Snell (
Newcomers’ task performance was measured by supervisors using five items from Tsui, Pearce, Porter and Tripoli (
Newcomers’ information seeking was measured using five item scale and seven-point Likert-type response scale (one = almost never, seven = very frequently) from Van de Walle, Ganesan, Challa-Galla and Brown (
Intrinsic motivation was assessed by five items previously validated by Dysvik and Kuvaas (
Energy is a naturally situational variable that varies on a day-to-day basis. Therefore, we used four scale items from existing measures (Cohen, Kessler, & Gordon,
The measures of overconfidence that we focused on are over-estimation and over-placement, or the behavioural bias by which one can be too optimistic because of the availability of an objective ‘right’ estimate. Moore and Healy (
To investigate the effects of supervisors’ positive feedback on newcomers’ task performance, we considered several factors in our analyses. Specifically, we included gender as a control variable since it affects personality development (Caspi et al., 2005; Roberts & Mroczek,
This article followed all ethical standards for research without direct contact with human or animal subjects.
The means, standard deviations, and correlations among our variables of interests are shown in
Means, standard deviations and correlations of variables (
Number | Variable | Mean | SD | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | PF | 5.25 | 1.49 | 0.968 | - | - | - | - | - |
2 | IM | 4.94 | 1.47 | 0.364 |
0.989 | - | - | - | - |
3 | EW | 4.86 | 1.63 | 0.290 |
0.012 | 0.989 | - | - | - |
4 | OC | 4.32 | 1.71 | 0.214 |
−0.026 | −0.305 |
0.986 | - | - |
5 | IS | 4.55 | 1.65 | 0.252 |
0.095 | −0.139 |
0.574 |
0.985 | - |
6 | TP | 5.25 | 1.18 | 0.528 |
0.043 | 0.172 |
0.320 |
0.257 |
0.973 |
Note: The numbers in this Table represents the reliability of the corresponding constructs.
PF, supervisors’ positive feedback to newcomers; IM, newcomers’ intrinsic motivation; EW, newcomers’ energy at work; OC, newcomers’ overconfidence; IS information seeking; TP, task performance.
,
,
The results are presented in
The results model.
Hypotheses 3a and 3b posit that newcomers’ intrinsic motivation may enhance the positive effects of supervisors’ positive feedback given to newcomers on their energy and overconfidence at work. To investigate these elements, the interaction term of supervisors’ positive feedback given to newcomers and intrinsic motivation was introduced into the model. The results showed that the interaction is positively related with energy at work (β = 0.344,
The moderating effect of intrinsic motivation on supervisors’ positive feedback.
Hypothesis 4 proposed that newcomers’ energy at work has a positive effect on information seeking, which is supported with a positively significant effect (β = 0.558,
To test the mediation effect of information seeking, a sample of 2000 Monte Carlo replications using the parameter bootstrap method was employed. The results showed that the indirect effect of newcomers’ energy at work on task performance via information seeking is 0.310 (95% CI = [0.194, 0.439]). The negative indirect effect of newcomers’ overconfidence on supervisor-rated task performance is –0.215 (95% CI = [–0.304, –0.143]). Thus, Hypothesis 6a and Hypothesis 6b indicate that information seeking mediates the relationship between newcomers’ energy at work and task performance, as well as the relationship between newcomers’ overconfidence at work and task performance, are both supported.
Our study aims to provide insight into the contributions of supervisors’ positive feedback to newcomers’ task performance during the employees’ first 90 days at work. Our results demonstrate that supervisors’ positive feedback has a positive effect on newcomers’ task performance during the first 90 days. Specifically, supervisors’ positive feedback efforts are positively associated with newcomers’ energy at work and information seeking, which results in better task performance. Grounded in COR theory (Hobfoll,
This study also emphasises the importance of intrinsic motivation as a moderator of supervisors’ positive feedback and, newcomers’ energy and overconfidence at work. Our results suggested that intrinsically motivated employees are more energetic in the workplace and are more inclined to work constructively (Deci & Ryan,
In harmony with COR theory, we developed a model that explains how supervisors’ positive feedback affects newcomers’ task performance in the workplace. The current study has several important theoretical implications. In particular, we extend the COR theory to newcomer task performance in three ways. First, we enrich COR theory studies by providing evidence of the role of supervisors’ positive feedback in improving newcomers’ task performance during the first 90 days. Specifically, our findings suggest that supervisors’ positive feedback can positively affect newcomers’ task performance. Past research on COR theory (Bandura,
Second, the contribution of intrinsic motivation to shaping newcomers’ behaviour and task performance in the workplace should be among the key focus areas for organisations. This works best when newcomers have high levels of intrinsic motivation. Our study argues that, newcomers with high levels of intrinsic motivation can strengthen the association between supervisors’ positive feedback and newcomers’ energy at work in the workplace, such that newcomers with high levels of intrinsic motivation exhibit high levels of energy at work (
Third, we have demonstrated how information seeking acts as a mediator between newcomers’ energy at work, their overconfidence and their task performance. This is important because it facilitates the direct testing of hypotheses grounded on the philosophies of COR theory, which have thus far been examined exclusively based on qualitative analysis. Overconfidence as a form of cognitive bias may result in failure to access and appropriately use information in the workplace (Kahneman & Tversky,
Our study also has practical implications. For example, a record-breaking 8.2 million students are graduating from Chinese universities every year (China Ministry of Education,
Finally, our study highlights the contribution of intrinsic motivation during the first 3 months of employment to newcomers’ task performance. This study can help organisations to consider situations in which supervisors’ positive feedback is influenced by newcomers’ intrinsic motivation. Organisations are thus advised to make use of intrinsic motivation to maximise employees’ performance in the workplace. The results of this study also suggest that, besides the human resources orientation, supervisors’ feedback is constructive for bettering their performance (Bauer & Erdogan,
In addition to the contributions stated above, this study has some limitations. First, besides supervisors’ positive feedback, newcomers may be motivated by feedback given by other co-workers. Second, this study was conducted only on newcomers who are working in a high-tech manufacturing company in northern China. Therefore, it may not be possible to generalise the results of this study to other types of firms and workers. Nevertheless, we believe this study is important for the concerned parties. Third, this study considers intrinsic motivation as a moderating variable in regard to supervisors’ positive feedback and newcomers’ energy at work on one hand, and supervisors’ positive feedback and newcomers’ overconfidence on the other. Therefore, future researchers may benefit from investigating other potential factors that may influence newcomer’s performance during their first 3 months at work. For instance, supervisors’ negative feedback given to newcomers, emotional labour as a moderator and the effects of these elements on employees’ performance may be fruitful areas for future research. Finally, this study covers newcomers for the first 90 days of their employment. Therefore, future researchers may address the effects of supervisors’ positive feedback on newcomers’ performance over a longer period of time.
Despite these limitations, our findings alert researchers and consultants to the critical role played by supervisors’ positive feedback and intrinsic motivation in newcomers’ task performance. Much of the management literature focuses on acquired knowledge as a means by which to increase employees’ task performance in the workplace, but our findings provide insights beyond the acquired knowledge promoted by supervisors’ positive feedback and newcomers’ intrinsic motivation, which both plays crucial roles in effective task performance in the workplace. Intrinsic motivation plays a moderating role on supervisors’ positive feedback and newcomers’ energy at work. Overall, our study shows that supervisors’ positive feedback is a powerful way of boosting newcomers’ task performance, and this effect will be more practical when intrinsic motivation is high.
The authors would like to thank the high-tech manufacturing company management teams, the supervisors and the newcomers for the input in delivering this publication.
The authors have declared that no competing interest exists.
All authors contributed equally to this work.
This research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for -profit sectors.
Data sharing is not applicable to this article as no new data were created or analysed in this study.
The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily the official policy or position of any affiliated agency of the authors, and the Publisher/s.