Impression Management in Consultancy: behavior tendencies, processes and effectiveness

Abstract

People are able to select the information they display to others in order to make a desired impression and thereby change others’ thinking and subsequent behavior. This so-called impression management (IM) is expected to make a difference for consultants’ performance. This dissertation deals with the question whether and how IM can have such an influence. The results indicate that certain IM behaviors positively influence consultants’ performance. However, IM can as well lead to the experience of stress and deteriorate consultants’ performance levels. It was found that personal characteristics, as e.g. age and cultural background were found to have an effect on IM choice. Moreover, it was learned that the IM effect vanishes over time. The results lead to the conclusion that IM should be seen as an integral part of a consultant work performance. Selection processes and training sessions are seen as possible ways to find and train not only good consultants but also good impression managers.