IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/inm/ormnsc/v72y2026i3p2247-2266.html

Eliciting Advice Instead of Feedback Improves Developmental Input

Author

Listed:
  • Hayley Blunden

    (Kogod School of Business, American University, Washington, District of Columbia 20016)

  • Ariella Kristal

    (Anderson School of Management, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California 90095; and Sy Syms School of Business, Yeshiva University, New York, New York 10033)

  • Ashley Whillans

    (Harvard Business School, Harvard University, Boston, Massachusetts 02163)

  • Jaewon Yoon

    (Meta, Menlo Park, California 94025)

  • Hannah Burd

    (Behavioural Insights Team, London EC4Y 0DS, United Kingdom)

  • Georgina Bremner

    (Behavioural Insights Team, London EC4Y 0DS, United Kingdom)

  • Michael Yeomans

    (Imperial College Business School, Imperial College London, London SW7 2AZ, United Kingdom)

Abstract

Most organizations encourage employees to provide feedback to one another to support learning, personal growth, and career advancement. However, employee feedback often fails to improve performance because it lacks concrete, specific guidance. We provide a temporal explanation for why workplace input processes routinely fail to produce valuable and concrete developmental insights: they are insufficiently focused on the future. In this paper, we theorize and demonstrate that encouraging input providers to think about the future leads them to produce more concrete developmental input. Across a large scale, preregistered field experiment ( n = 27,432 comments) and two laboratory studies ( n = 806), people provide more concrete and actionable developmental input when they are prompted to provide future-looking “advice” rather than “feedback,” a common method of soliciting input in organizations. The effect of soliciting advice on input concreteness was mediated by providers’ future focus. Moreover, in a follow-up study, such concrete input was assessed by independent raters as more useful. These findings highlight the role of temporal orientation in driving the content of developmental input. In doing so, our data suggest that individuals and organizations have the potential to promote higher-quality developmental input by attending to the temporal orientation that their input systems encourage.

Suggested Citation

  • Hayley Blunden & Ariella Kristal & Ashley Whillans & Jaewon Yoon & Hannah Burd & Georgina Bremner & Michael Yeomans, 2026. "Eliciting Advice Instead of Feedback Improves Developmental Input," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 72(3), pages 2247-2266, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:inm:ormnsc:v:72:y:2026:i:3:p:2247-2266
    DOI: 10.1287/mnsc.2022.03207
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.2022.03207
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1287/mnsc.2022.03207?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Stefano DellaVigna & Woojin Kim & Elizabeth Linos, 2024. "Bottlenecks for Evidence Adoption," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 132(8), pages 2748-2789.
    2. Podsakoff, Philip M. & Farh, Jiing-Lih, 1989. "Effects of feedback sign and credibility on goal setting and task performance," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 44(1), pages 45-67, August.
    3. Yeomans, Michael & Minson, Julia & Collins, Hanne & Chen, Frances & Gino, Francesca, 2020. "Conversational receptiveness: Improving engagement with opposing views," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 160(C), pages 131-148.
    4. Hao Liang & Christopher Marquis & Luc Renneboog & Sunny Li Sun, 2018. "Future-Time Framing: The Effect of Language on Corporate Future Orientation," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 29(6), pages 1093-1111, December.
    5. Smith, Ken G. & Locke, Edwin A. & Barry, David, 1990. "Goal setting, planning, and organizational performance: An experimental simulation," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 46(1), pages 118-134, June.
    6. DeNisi, Angelo S. & Pritchard, Robert D., 2006. "Performance Appraisal, Performance Management and Improving Individual Performance: A Motivational Framework," Management and Organization Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 2(2), pages 253-277, July.
    7. Katherine L. Milkman & Todd Rogers & Max H. Bazerman, 2009. "Highbrow Films Gather Dust: Time-Inconsistent Preferences and Online DVD Rentals," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 55(6), pages 1047-1059, June.
    8. Jackie Gnepp & Joshua Klayman & Ian O Williamson & Sema Barlas, 2020. "The future of feedback: Motivating performance improvement through future-focused feedback," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 15(6), pages 1-28, June.
    9. Blakely, Gerald L., 1993. "The Effects of Performance Rating Discrepancies on Supervisors and Subordinates," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 54(1), pages 57-80, February.
    10. Angelo S. DeNisi & Robert D. Pritchard, 2006. "Performance Appraisal, Performance Management and Improving Individual Performance: A Motivational Framework," Management and Organization Review, The International Association for Chinese Management Research, vol. 2(2), pages 253-277, July.
    11. Waung, Marie & Highhouse, Scott, 1997. "Fear of Conflict and Empathic Buffering: Two Explanations for the Inflation of Performance Feedback," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 71(1), pages 37-54, July.
    12. Katharina Lix & Amir Goldberg & Sameer B. Srivastava & Melissa A. Valentine, 2022. "Aligning Differences: Discursive Diversity and Team Performance," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 68(11), pages 8430-8448, November.
    13. Grant, Adam M. & Campbell, Elizabeth M. & Chen, Grace & Cottone, Keenan & Lapedis, David & Lee, Karen, 2007. "Impact and the art of motivation maintenance: The effects of contact with beneficiaries on persistence behavior," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 103(1), pages 53-67, May.
    14. Sameer B. Srivastava & Amir Goldberg & V. Govind Manian & Christopher Potts, 2018. "Enculturation Trajectories: Language, Cultural Adaptation, and Individual Outcomes in Organizations," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 64(3), pages 1348-1364, March.
    15. Milyavsky, Maxim & Gvili, Yaniv, 2024. "Advice taking vs. combining opinions: Framing social information as advice increases source’s perceived helping intentions, trust, and influence," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 183(C).
    16. Dalal, Reeshad S. & Bonaccio, Silvia, 2010. "What types of advice do decision-makers prefer?," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 112(1), pages 11-23, May.
    17. Blunden, Hayley & Logg, Jennifer M. & Brooks, Alison Wood & John, Leslie K. & Gino, Francesca, 2019. "Seeker beware: The interpersonal costs of ignoring advice," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 150(C), pages 83-100.
    18. Yaniv, Ilan, 2004. "Receiving other people's advice: Influence and benefit," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 93(1), pages 1-13, January.
    19. Yeomans, Michael, 2021. "A concrete example of construct construction in natural language," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 162(C), pages 81-94.
    20. Shipp, Abbie J. & Edwards, Jeffrey R. & Lambert, Lisa Schurer, 2009. "Conceptualization and measurement of temporal focus: The subjective experience of the past, present, and future," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 110(1), pages 1-22, September.
    21. Bonaccio, Silvia & Dalal, Reeshad S., 2006. "Advice taking and decision-making: An integrative literature review, and implications for the organizational sciences," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 101(2), pages 127-151, November.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Sprenger, Julia, 2016. "Financial literacy: A barrier to seek financial advice but not a shield against following it," Ruhr Economic Papers 634, RWI - Leibniz-Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, Ruhr-University Bochum, TU Dortmund University, University of Duisburg-Essen.
    2. Kausel, Edgar E. & Culbertson, Satoris S. & Leiva, Pedro I. & Slaughter, Jerel E. & Jackson, Alexander T., 2015. "Too arrogant for their own good? Why and when narcissists dismiss advice," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 131(C), pages 33-50.
    3. Blunden, Hayley & Steffel, Mary, 2023. "The downside of decision delegation: When transferring decision responsibility incurs interpersonal costs," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 176(C).
    4. Kanfer, Ruth & Chen, Gilad, 2016. "Motivation in organizational behavior: History, advances and prospects," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 136(C), pages 6-19.
    5. Cathy (Liu) Yang & Kevin Bauer & Xitong Li & Oliver Hinz, 2026. "My Advisor, Her AI, and Me: Evidence from a Field Experiment on Human–AI Collaboration and Investment Decisions," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 72(1), pages 242-264, January.
    6. Reif, Jessica A. & Larrick, Richard P. & Soll, Jack B., 2024. "The inclusion of anchors when seeking advice: Causes and consequences," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 185(C).
    7. Blunden, Hayley & Logg, Jennifer M. & Brooks, Alison Wood & John, Leslie K. & Gino, Francesca, 2019. "Seeker beware: The interpersonal costs of ignoring advice," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 150(C), pages 83-100.
    8. Elana Feldman & William Kahn, 2019. "When Developers Disagree: Divergent Advice as a Potential Catalyst for Protégé Growth," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 30(3), pages 509-527, May.
    9. Atanasov, Pavel & Witkowski, Jens & Ungar, Lyle & Mellers, Barbara & Tetlock, Philip, 2020. "Small steps to accuracy: Incremental belief updaters are better forecasters," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 160(C), pages 19-35.
    10. Fildes, Robert & Goodwin, Paul & Lawrence, Michael & Nikolopoulos, Konstantinos, 2009. "Effective forecasting and judgmental adjustments: an empirical evaluation and strategies for improvement in supply-chain planning," International Journal of Forecasting, Elsevier, vol. 25(1), pages 3-23.
    11. Effron, Daniel A. & Raj, Medha, 2021. "Disclosing interpersonal conflicts of interest: Revealing whom we like, but not whom we dislike," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 164(C), pages 68-85.
    12. Gino, Francesca, 2008. "Do we listen to advice just because we paid for it? The impact of advice cost on its use," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 107(2), pages 234-245, November.
    13. Richard Lu & Jennifer A. Chatman & Amir Goldberg & Sameer B. Srivastava, 2024. "Two-Sided Cultural Fit: The Differing Behavioral Consequences of Cultural Congruence Based on Values Versus Perceptions," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 35(1), pages 71-91, January.
    14. Sajid Hussain Awan & Nazia Habib & Chaudhry Shoaib Akhtar & Shaheryar Naveed, 2020. "Effectiveness of Performance Management System for Employee Performance Through Engagement," SAGE Open, , vol. 10(4), pages 21582440209, October.
    15. Alison Wood Brooks & Francesca Gino & Maurice E. Schweitzer, 2015. "Smart People Ask for (My) Advice: Seeking Advice Boosts Perceptions of Competence," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 61(6), pages 1421-1435, June.
    16. Decramer, Adelien & Audenaert, Mieke & Van Waeyenberg, Thomas & Claeys, Tine & Claes, Claudia & Vandevelde, Stijn & van Loon, Jos & Crucke, Saskia, 2015. "Does performance management affect nurses’ well-being?," Evaluation and Program Planning, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 98-105.
    17. Özalp Özer & Upender Subramanian & Yu Wang, 2018. "Information Sharing, Advice Provision, or Delegation: What Leads to Higher Trust and Trustworthiness?," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 64(1), pages 474-493, January.
    18. Gehrig, Thomas & Güth, Werner & Leví0nský, René & Popova, Vera, 2010. "On the evolution of professional consulting," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 76(1), pages 113-126, October.
    19. Amaral, Christopher & Kolsarici, Ceren, 2020. "The financial advice puzzle: The role of consumer heterogeneity in the advisor choice," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 54(C).
    20. Branislav Micieta & Honorata Howaniec & Vladimíra Binasova & Martin Buzalka, 2025. "Financial Performance Analysis and Indicator-Based Improvement Strategies in a Selected Company," European Research Studies Journal, European Research Studies Journal, vol. 0(3), pages 482-499.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:inm:ormnsc:v:72:y:2026:i:3:p:2247-2266. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Chris Asher (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/inforea.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.