A quarter of managers withhold feedback

Performance feedback is critical for supporting career and education decisions, but in a new study in Management Science, a research team from the University of Portsmouth, University of Exeter, and York University uncovered a striking pattern of managers partially or fully withholding performance feedback that was particularly pronounced among female workers.

The researchers conducted a controlled online experiment with 2,620 participants split into “manager” and “worker” roles.

Workers completed a short cognitive ability quiz where only top performers earned a higher payment.

Managers were shown workers’ profiles – including their gender – and given either precise, vague, or no information about the workers’ test scores.

They could then choose to pass on the information as received, or instead partially or fully obscure it before sharing.

Workers then decided whether to receive a smaller fixed payment based on their score, or to compete for a higher reward only paid to top performers.

In some cases, workers received feedback before making this choice – in others, they received it afterwards.

The researchers observed that around one in four managers withheld feedback, even when they had received positive performance information about a worker.

A follow-up survey found that managers’ main motivations for giving feedback were a preference for transparency and a sense of duty to those they oversaw.

Negative feedback was more likely to be withheld when the feedback did not affect a worker’s subsequent decision about the payment or when the information was imprecise, suggesting managers were protecting workers’ self-esteem.

The researchers found this pattern to be more pronounced for female workers: when the negative information was imprecise, managers were nearly twice as likely to withhold it from women than from men.

Follow-up evidence led the authors to suggest this may reflect “paternalistic bias”, driven by concern about women’s feelings or fear of undermining their confidence.

However, prior research shows that women are no less eager to receive feedback than men, suggesting this concern is unfounded.

The researchers found that men and women responded to feedback differently, with male workers more likely to discount negative feedback and still choose the higher, more competitive payment option – even when doing so reduced their expected payoff.

In contrast, women were more responsive to feedback and adjusted their choices accordingly.

The researchers recommend that institutions combat bias by working to cultivate a culture around transparency and duty in mentorship and evaluation.

They also recommend standardising feedback processes to reduce personal bias (for example, by using rating scales and structured forms), or to use feedback platforms where gender is not disclosed to the feedback provider.

Dr Boon Han Koh from the University of Exeter Business School said: “Feedback is one of the most powerful tools that organisations and educators have to improve worker performance, increase student learning, and spark individual growth, yet our results show that a substantial amount of feedback is still withheld, including positive feedback.

“Our findings suggest that improving feedback quality is not only about information systems or incentives. It is also about strengthening norms of transparency and duty in how people mentor, manage, and evaluate others.”

Associate Professor Zahra Murad, from the School of Accounting, Economics and Finance, University of Portsmouth added: “We also find suggestive evidence of gender differences in some settings, particularly when feedback is vague and non-instrumental. This points to the importance of designing feedback processes that reduce ambiguity and limit room for selective withholding.”

The Signals we give: Performance feedback, gender and competition is published in Management Science.