From self-avoidance to help others: Exploring why and when feedback avoiding behavior promotes volunteering

Feedback avoiding behavior is considered undesirable by organizations. Nevertheless, we know little about whether it can have benefits outside the workplace. Drawing on the conservation of resources theory, we explore why and when participating in feedback avoiding behavior may possess benefits. The results from two experiments and a field study illustrate that engaging in feedback avoiding behavior is associated with decreased emotional exhaustion, which then spills over into employee volunteering behavior. Moreover, regulatory focus moderates the observed effects. Specifically, the negative relationship of feedback avoiding behavior with emotional exhaustion and the positive indirect effect of feedback avoiding behavior on volunteering behavior via emotional exhaustion is stronger when the employee prevention focus is high. Theoretical contributions and practical implications as well as future research directions are presented.