Examination of individual differences and feedback systems : how self-monitoring, self-esteem, and multiple feedback sources affect performance.

Abstract

This study investigated the effects of self-monitoring, self-esteem, and multiple feedback sources on performance. Participants were 142 Developmental Psychology students from a small mid-western university who completed the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Inventory and the Snyder Self Monitoring Scale before participating in two group presentations. Participants were given feedback on their performance from a combination of self, instructor and peer feedback depending on the condition they were assigned. Results indicated that feedback does play a role in performance improvement. In addition, feedback systems with more than one source of feedback produce significantly greater performance improvement than those with just one source of feedback, suggesting that multi-source feedback systems are more effective than the traditional top-down feedback systems used by most organizations today.