Trust, Perceived Importance of Praise and Criticism, and Work Performance: An Examination of Feedback in the United States and England

Abstract

This article describes two studies which examined the usefulness of performance feedback in shaping American and English workers' behaviors. In thefirst study, an in-basket task was used to assess the importance of praise or criticism concerning work performance for 36 American and 36 English workers from a traditional, heavy-manufacturing industry in the United States and England. A second study was conducted (n = 86 for the U.S., n = 74 for England) to examine the relations among a worker's trust in a supervisor, perceived importance of praise and criticism, a worker's perceived amount of praise and criticism received, and performance. Results suggest that American and English workers valued and responded to praise and criticism differently, and that the influence of the feedback was partially mediated by a worker's trust in thefeedback source and perceived importance of the feedback.