Feedback has become a fundamental tool to support professional development in today’s organisations. Recently, research has moved from a traditional focus on feedback as a resource that is formally given and passively received to various ways to actively seek feedback in everyday work lives (Ashford, Blatt, & Vande Walle, 2003). Feedback seeking is a means to develop “know how”, to improve human performance and to take initiative to further one’s career development (London, Larsen, & Thisted, 1999). Despite the agreement about the importance of feedback seeking, only a few studies have investigated the outcomes of feedback seeking behaviour in organisations in terms of performance (Renn & Fedor, 2001). This paper argues that feedback seeking behaviour plays a major role in career development. Career development can be defined as the outcome or achievement individuals have earned as a result of their work experiences (Van der Sluis & Poell, 2003). Although previous studies (e.g., Shute, 2008) have considerably improved our understanding of feedback seeking behaviour, to date, less attention is given to individual and situational factors that induce feedback seeking behaviour in the workplace (Steelman, Levy, & Snell, 2004), and in turn influence the employees’ career development.

Former research evidenced the significant role of the employees’ orientation to self-directed learning for undertaking professional development activities and for career development (Raemdonck, Plomp & Segers, 2008). An orientation to self-directed learning refers to a ‘relatively stable tendency to take an active and self-starting approach to work-related learning activities and situations, and to persist in overcoming barriers and setbacks’ (Raemdonck et al., 2008). Given feedback seeking is a highly active process, it can be expected that an orientation to self-directed learning positively influences feedback seeking behaviour which in turn results in career development. Moreover, feedback seeking takes place within the specific learning climate of the workplace, referring to Maurer and Tarulli (1994) learning climate can be defined as ‘a general orientation by a company towards employee learning and development’. Former studies evidenced the relation between a stimulating learning climate and professional development. It can be expected that employees’ perception of the learning climate positively influence the feedback seeking behaviour of employees which in turn enhances their career development.

The purposes of this study were to examine (a) the impact of employee’s orientation to self-directed learning on feedback seeking behaviour, (b) the influence of the perceived learning climate on feedback seeking behaviour, and (c) whether feedback seeking leads to increased perceived career development and acts as a mediator between the orientation towards self-directed learning, the perceived learning climate and career development.

Methodology

104 employees (48% women, 51% men; average age= 39.5 years, years of experiences between 0 and 39 years) in various Dutch organisations participated in the study and completed a questionnaire. Participants held a variety of jobs across a variety of job categories (e.g, manufacturing, administration, service, health care). Table 1 presents for each variable measured the instrument used, an example item and the Cronbach’s alpha.

Table 1

Results

The results of the analyses show that the learning climate related positively to the feedback quality of colleagues (r=.45, p<.01) and supervisors (r=.49, p<.01). However, there was no significant relation found between the learning climate and the frequency of feedback seeking.

We found no significant relation between the self-directed learning orientation of employees and their frequency of feedback seeking. Though, self-directed learning orientation related positively to the feedback quality of colleagues (r=.28, p<.01) and the supervisor (r=.34, p<.01).

Self-directed learning orientation and the learning climate account for 22.4% of the explained variance in feedback quality by colleagues, and account for 27.8% of the explained variance in feedback quality by the supervisor.

Next, the results of the analysis indicate that the feedback quality of the supervisor is significantly related to perceived career development (β=.51, p=.00). In addition, the results show that the learning climate and self-directed learning orientation are quite strong predictors of career development (r=.36, p<.01; r=.49, p<.01).

Results of the Sobel test were z =1.87 (p<.05), indicating the effect of the quality of the feedback of the supervisor as a mediating variable in the relation between the learning climate and career development.  

Conclusion

This research provides evidence for the value of feedback seeking behaviour for work-related outcomes. Moreover, it supports the importance of taking into account situational and individual factors to understand feedback-seeking behaviour in the workplace. This research shows that the learning climate in the workplace and the employee’s orientation to self-directed learning are important conditions for feedback seeking behaviour and career development. In addition, the results indicate that the feedback quality of the supervisor is very important, which suggests that employees should be stimulated to seek feedback of their supervisor.