Who, What, Where, and Why of Feedback: Leadership's Role in Learning Organisations

Abstract

Feedback plays a critical role for self-reflection and learning in the workplace. Leadership beliefs, the organisational context and (in)formal training measures shape its quality. Yet, organisational learning is often influenced by non-empirical practices, leading to the spread of misinformation about feedback techniques, such as the ‘feedback sandwich’. This research explores how learning-oriented leadership (LOL) behaviours and the learning organisation (LO) influence leaders’ feedback quality. Leaders’ perceptions and belief development about feedback and learning was explored as well. Drawing on a mixed-methods design, the study combines questionnaire responses (n = 35), followed by leader interviews (n = 3) to expand on perceptions of the target variables. The findings suggest that LOL enhances feedback quality, moderated by LO. However, the relationship is strongest when the level of LO is low. This is possibly due to an overreliance on the characteristics of an LO by leaders. Leaders emphasised the value of informal learning over formal training when it comes to developing feedback skills, parallel to how their own skills were learned. Discrepancies in formal trainings were observed. These findings contribute to growing research on leadership and LOs, offering insights on the interaction between formal and informal learning, and cognitive-affective feedback model development.