Assistant Professor of Management Logan Steele and his coauthors have had their paper, “I Am Not Who You Think I Am: The Role of Appraisal in Responses to Non-Verifying Feedback,” accepted for publication in the Journal of Organizational Behavior.
The study examines what happens when people receive feedback at work that conflicts with how they see themselves — something that can feel threatening but can also promote growth. They examined how female leaders in engineering respond to feedback that challenges their self-perception, aiming to understand why such feedback can sometimes lead to growth instead of harm. The study found that the outcome depends on whether the leader interprets the feedback as an “identity threat” (leading to negative emotions) or an “identity opportunity” (leading to positive emotions). Women who have a strong sense of self-worth were better equipped to handle feedback perceived as a threat. The qualitative portion identified seven cues that help people recognize when feedback doesn’t match their self-view.
The findings offer practical insights into how employees, particularly women in male-dominated fields, process challenging feedback and how organizations can cultivate more constructive feedback practices.