Management development intentions following feedback – Role of perceived outcomes, social pressures, and control

Within a large telecommunications company, this study applied the Theory of Planned Behavior to understand managers’ intentions to improve their skills following peer/subordinate feedback. Survey responses from 127 managers who had just received their feedback results showed that three types of variables were associated with managers’ intentions to improve their skills. First, perceived favorable outcomes or benefits of improvement had differential relationships with intentions for on‐ and off‐the‐job strategies for improvement. Second, and independent of perceived benefits, perceived social pressures for improvement were associated with intentions to improve, illustrating that “voluntary” development behavior can be related to both perceived rewards (a pull) and social pressures (a push). Third, ratees’ perceived control over their own improvement was also related to intentions, illustrating the important role that this factor may play in development. In two subsequent waves of feedback, actual improvement in the managers’ peer/subordinate ratings following initial feedback was also examined in relation to intentions. Suggestions for future research are also offered.