The Effects of Feedback Accuracy and Trainer Rules on Performance during an Analogue Task

ABSTRACT Feedback is the most commonly used intervention in Organizational Behavior Management (OBM), and recent research has examined both the effects of inaccurate feedback on performance as well as rumors created due to inaccurate rules. To date, no studies have assessed the effects of providing differing information regarding feedback accuracy during the training of an analogue work task. The present study assessed the relative effects of two independent variables on performance during an analogue work task: the information regarding feedback accuracy provided during the training (i.e., a rule given during training describing feedback accuracy) and the actual level of task feedback accuracy to which participants were exposed during an analogue work task (i.e., one-third [accurate feedback divided by three], accurate, and tripled [accurate feedback multiplied by three]). The results of the study showed that participants exposed to accurate feedback during the analogue work task performed better than participants exposed to one-third or tripled feedback. Implications, limitations of the study, and directions for future research are discussed.