Shame: Does It Fit in the Workplace? Examining Supervisor Negative Feedback Effect on Task Performance

Abstract

Purpose

One of the most exciting aspects of organisational psychology is the study of shame and the factors that lead up to it. The purpose of this study was to examine the relation between supervisor negative feedback and task performance. Further, we examined the mediating role of shame between supervisor negative feedback and task performance and the moderating role of self-esteem.

Methods

Employees working full-time in educational institutions across Pakistan were selected to collect data from the respondents. By using a convenience sampling technique, 258 employees participated in the study. The data were collected in three phases to reduce the problem of the common variance bias. Direct paths were tested by using simple linear regression (SPSS V.25). Hayes (2017) PROCESS macro model 4 was used for mediation and model 1 for moderation.

Results

The findings revealed that negative feedback from supervisors is linked positively with employees’ task performance. Further, shame partially mediates the relation between supervisor negative feedback and tas performance. When self-esteem is high, negative feedback and task performance were more strongly associated than low.

Discussion

This study has theoretical and practical implications and is based on the well-known theory of psychology ie affective events theory (AET), which states that workplace events cause emotions, influencing work attitudes and actions. This study fills the gap which is unknown to the scholars and practitioners in understanding that supervisor negative feedback is helpful to enhance employee task performance via feeling shame.