Robbing Peter to pay Paul: Feedback environments and enacted priorities in response to competing task demands

In this article, we present a model of how the feedback that surrounds performers as they do their work affects their attention and effort allocation in multiple goal situations. Differences in the frequency, specificity, and source of feedback for the multiple goals that performers hold are posited to affect attention and effort allocations. By differentially allocating their efforts in response to the feedback environment, performers often enact priorities that may or may not match the assigned priorities of the organization. These attention and effort allocations are posited to affect relative performance on the goals performers hold (or are assigned). Practical implications for performance management in organizations are addressed.