Personal Values and Intended Self-Presentation during Job Interviews: A Cross-Cultural Comparison

Abstract

This study examined the impact of personal values on intended self-presentation during job interviews among German, Ghanaian, Norwegian, and Turkish students (total N= 1,474). We also sought to explain cultural differences in self-presentation among these groups. The Cultural Impression Management Scale for applicants (CIM-A) and the Portrait Values Questionnaire were administered. A multigroup MIMIC model with invariant measurement and structural weights was supported, in which achievement, security, and benevolence values predicted a latent impression management factor. Intended impression management scores were significantly higher in the Ghanaian and Turkish samples than in the Norwegian and German samples. Values (achievement and security) accounted for 19.6 per cent of the cross-cultural differences in self-presentation. Adding acquiescence as an additional predictor (interpreted here as a measure of communication style) decreased the cross-cultural differences by 52.8 per cent. It is concluded that values are similarly related to intended self-presentation across these four groups, even though the cross-cultural differences in mean scores in both sets of variables were considerable.