Because of “Because”: The Role of Causal Language in Performance Feedback and Its Impact on Affect and Subsequent Task Performance

• In Event: DSFI Session 3

Abstract

We investigate how causal language in performance evaluations impacts employee affect and subsequent task performance. We define causal language reflecting the search for reasons. Using a 2x2 between-subjects experiment, we predict and find that the use of causal language in delivering negative performance feedback leads to improvement in subsequent performance, while the use of causal language in delivering positive feedback leads to deterioration in subsequent performance. These results are explained by the reduction in intensity in emotional reactions that participants have to their respective performance feedback reports. Our study contributes to the literature on determinants of performance evaluation efficacy and on reactions of users to managers’ language choices in internal disclosures. Our results are also relevant for managers who seek to impact employees’ emotional reactions to performance evaluations without changing the causal attribution contained in those evaluations.

Authors

• Serena Loftus, University of Washington-Seattle

• Lloyd D Tanlu, University of Washington-Seattle