Evaluating performance feedback: a research study into issues of credibility and utility for nursing clinicians.

Performance feedback is information provided to employees about how well they are performing in their work role. The nursing profession has a long history of providing formal, written performance reviews, traditionally from a manager to subordinate, with less formal feedback sources including peers, clients and multidisciplinary team members. This paper is based on one aspect of a PhD research study exploring the dynamics of performance feedback primarily from the nursing clinicians' perspective. The research reported here discusses the impact of the social relationship (between the source and recipient of performance feedback) on the recipient's evaluation of feedback as being 'credible' and 'useful' for self-assessment. Focus group interviews were utilised to ascertain the nursing clinicians' perspectives of performance feedback. Thematic analysis of the data was informed by the Social Phenomenology of Alfred Schutz (1967) specifically his theories of intersubjective understanding. Findings supported the level of familiarity between the feedback source and the nursing clinician as a significant criterion influencing the acceptance or rejection of feedback. Implications for the selection of performance feedback sources and processes within nursing are discussed.