Individuals' power determines how they respond to positive versus negative performance feedback

Performance feedback signals to people where they stand in their goal progress. Positive feedback suggests that one is on a good track to achieve a goal. Negative feedback indicates that another strategy or greater effort is required. However, not everyone reacts equally to such feedback. Through four studies using a variety of methods, we examined how individuals' experience of power affects motivation and performance depending on whether they receive negative or positive performance feedback. While results were not completely uniform, a general pattern could be observed. Specifically, a meta-analysis across all studies showed that negative feedback had an overall detrimental effect on motivation and performance of low-power individuals but not of high-power individuals. Positive feedback neither impacted low- nor high-power individuals' motivation but increased low-power individuals' performance relative to their high-power counterparts. Our findings imply that performance feedback needs to be tailored to the recipient's experience of power.