Effects Of Impression Management Research Articles

Regain Acceptance from Being Ostracized: Effects of Impression Management and Self-Monitoring

Research on ostracism suggests that being socially excluded can trigger an individual’s desire to belong by using social influence tactics, such as impression management, to regain social acceptanc...

The Ability to Identify Criteria: Its Relationship with Social Understanding, Preparation, and Impression Management in Affecting Predictor Performance in a High-Stakes Selection Context

The ability to correctly identify the criteria (ATIC) that are being evaluated in a selection procedure is a relatively new construct attracting attention because of its significant relationship with performance in selection assessments and its potential for explaining their criterion validity. Multiple source data from 319 applicants undergoing a high-stakes medical student selection procedure were used to test a moderated mediation model that extends current understanding of the nomological net of this construct. Results show that ATIC fully mediated the relationship between interview preparation and performance, partially mediated the effect of social understanding on performance, and moderated the effect of impression management on performance. Findings are explained in terms of cognitive theories of cue recognition, and practical implications are discussed.

Can I get a Witness? The Role of the Audience in Impression Management Effectiveness

Using Goffman’s (1959) original dramaturgical theory of self- presentation, we argue that impression management can be most effectively measured by the audience, to whom the behaviors are targeted. This approach differs from the majority of extant impression management research that employs measures of impression management from the actor. By switching the focus from the actor to the audience, we bring research on impression management back to its theoretical roots and offer a rationale for the varied and inconsistent findings reported in the literature. Using a sample of 175 employees and their supervisors, we examine and compare impression management ratings from both the employee and supervisor, and the ability of those ratings to predict supervisor liking for the employee and employee performance. In addition, we explore the notion that the inconsistency in prior research on impression management also may be explained by potential curvilinear relationships between impression management ratings and key outcome variables that have yet to be tested. Implications for practice and suggestions for future research, also are provided.

Sociometric Attractiveness on Facebook*

Advertisers are keen on finding ways to leverage social network sites (SNS) such as Facebook, one of the premier SNS today, to improve their image, the perception of their products and sales revenue. Facebook facilitates social interaction online, and therefore develops a better understanding of the effect of impression management and social attractiveness on SNS. We focus on the impact of two prominent features of a Facebook profile, number of friends and number of photos that the user is tagged in, on user’s perceived social attractiveness. Some SNS user profiles are perceived as more socially attractive than others. Presumably, a Facebook profile with a higher degree of social attractiveness will enhance the image of the organization, through positive association. In an experiment involving both graduate and undergraduate university students, almost all of them familiar with Facebook navigation, we find that, indeed, having more Facebook friends enhances social attractiveness, but likely only to a point. Having too many Facebook friends may have an adverse effect on social attractiveness. We also find that the number of photos that one is tagged in is an important determinant of social attractiveness, but only when considering alongside the number of friends. These findings suggest that we may have identified a conceptual SNS based advertising and PR design strategy with the potential to enhance perceived social attractiveness of the message. Through a carefully designed Facebook profile with the right balance between the number of friends and number of photos tagged, the profile’s attractiveness may in turn inspire the customer to view the products or services offered in a more favorable light. Our results also suggest that other features of an SNS user profile—such as the profile picture, friend network and profile content—have the potential to affect social attractiveness. Interestingly and perhaps unexpectedly, in our study we also find that gender influences social attractiveness scores, with women perceived as more socially attractive when they have more friends, and men perceived as more socially attractive when they have fewer friends. One potential explanation for this gender-related finding is that a gender double standard may exist in the judgment of social attractiveness on Facebook. This issue suggests a need for further research on the gender issue. An extension of our social attractiveness study to other SNS such as Twitter is welcome as well.

INTERACTIVE EFFECT OF PERCEPTIONS OF POLITICS (POP) AND IMPRESSION MANAGEMENT ON ORGANIZATIONAL CITIZENSHIP BEHAVIOR AND JOB BURNOUT

This paper aims at investigating the direct and interactive effect of perception of organizational politics (POP) and impression management on organizational citizenship behavior and job burnout. We proposed after review of literature that POP is negatively related to organizational citizenship behavior and is positively related to job burnout. We also hypothesized that impression management weakens both these relationships. Data was collected from 151 teachers of Pakistan through questionnaires consisting of standardized scales. Moderated regression analysis was used to analyze the data. Our findings showed a significant negative relationship between POP and organizational citizenship behavior and a significant positive relationship between POP and job burnout. It was also confirmed that impression management negatively moderates the relationship between POP and organizational citizenship behavior while no moderating effect of impression management was found in the relationship between organizational politics and job burnout. Limitations of the study along with directions for future research and implications for organizational managers have been discussed.

Good and Guilt-Free: The Role of Self-Accountability in Influencing Preferences for Products with Ethical Attributes

The market share of brands positioned using ethical attributes typically lags behind brands that promote attributes related to product performance. Across four studies, the authors show that situational factors that heighten consumers' self-accountability (i.e., activation of their desire to live up to their self-standards) lead to increased preferences for products promoted through their ethical attributes. They investigate their predictions regarding self-accountability in multiple ways, including examining the moderating roles of awareness of the discrepancy between a person's internal standards and actual behavior, self-accountability priming, and the presence of others in the decision context. Furthermore, they demonstrate that the subtle activation of self-accountability leads to more positive reactions to ethical appeals than explicit guilt appeals. Finally, they show that preference for a product promoted through ethical appeals is driven by the desire to avoid anticipated guilt, beyond the effects of impression management. Taken together, the results suggest that marketers positioning products through ethical attributes should subtly activate consumer self-accountability rather than using more explicit guilt appeals.

What Happens When The Honeymoon Is Over? The Limited Effect of Impression Management

In this paper, we study the ability of organizations to enhance their legitimacy while minimizing risk that supporting audiences will not withdraw their adhesion. A central claim of this study is t...

Are You Telling The Truth? Psychopathy Assessment and Impression Management in a Community Sample

Objectives: Researchers have suggested that approximately 1% of individuals within the community have psychopathic tendencies (Neumann and Hare, 2008), although confirmatory evidence is scant. Design: The current study aimed to extend previous research beyond university student samples to explore the effect of impression management and self-deception on the identification of psychopathic traits. Methods: A non-incarcerated community sample comprising of 300 adults completed the Self-Reported Psychopathy scale – version 3 (SRP-III; Paulhus, Hemphill & Hare, in press) as well as the Paulhus Deception Scales (PDS; Paulhus, 1998). Results: Results indicated that at least 1% of the current community sample had clear psychopathic tendencies, and that such tendencies were found in younger males who mis-used alcohol. Conclusions: Importantly, individuals with psychopathic traits did not present with an inflated propensity to distort assessment responses, which provides support for future research endeavours that aim to conduct larger-scale psychopathy assessments within the community. This paper further outlines the study implications in regards to the practical assessment of psychopathy.;

The Effects of Impression Management on Supervisors’ Attitudes and Affect: A Conceptual Framework

Previous research on impression management has not given adequate attention to the positive outcomes associated with impression management in the workplace. Specifically, there is a paucity of rese...

Helping Other CEOs Avoid Bad Press

In this study, we examine the determinants and consequences of impression management (IM) support in communications between CEOs and journalists, whereby CEOs of other firms provide positive statements about a focal CEO’s leadership and strategy and/or external attributions for low performance at the focal CEO’s firm. Drawing from social exchange theory, our theoretical perspective suggests how IM support may result from norms of reciprocity among corporate leaders. We consider the potential for direct and generalized reciprocity in the provision of IM support, including generalized reciprocity in which CEOs who received IM support previously pay the support forward to another third-party CEO, and a second form of generalized reciprocity in which CEOs reciprocate IM support to fellow CEOs whom they believe have given similar support to other CEOs in the past. We also draw from the social psychological literature on persuasion to suggest why IM support for another CEO may have a more positive influence on the tenor of journalists’ coverage about the firm’s leadership than impression management by the CEO about his or her own leadership and strategy. We test our hypotheses with data from large and mid-sized public U.S. companies from 1999 to 2007, including original survey data from a large sample of CEOs and journalists. The results supported our hypotheses, and additional findings suggested that the apparent effects of impression management by leaders and staff about their own firms following a negative earnings surprise may be partially attributable to the effects of IM support.

Moderating Effect of Impression Management On the Relationship of Emotional Intelligence and Organizational Citizenship Behavior

This study has examined the moderating impact of impression management motive on the relationship of emotional intelligence (EI) and Organizational Citizenship Behaviors (OCBs). Data were collected by administering self rated questionnaires to male middle level executives (N = 250) based in motor cycle manufacturing organizations based in northern India. Results as analyzed through moderated regression analysis demonstrated the significant negative impact of impression management motive on the relationship of EI and OCBs. However, EI and impression management had predicted OCBs positively. These findings advance the research on the concepts of EI, impression management and OCBs in the area of organizational psychology.

Look at Me, I’m Happy and Creative: The Effect of Impression Management on Behavior in Social Presence

The present research tested competing approaches to individual differences in impression management (as measured with social desirability scales) and their implication for behavior in social contexts. A defensiveness approach argues that impression management is a source of defensive self-presentation, which causes performance impairment in public social settings. The competing adjustment approach argues that impression management measures friendliness and self-control, which should bring about performance facilitation in public social settings. To decide between these approaches, two experiments utilized a social facilitation paradigm, whereby task performance was compared between an alone and a public condition. The results supported the predictions of the adjustment approach. Across different tasks, a high impression management score was associated with performance facilitation in social presence, expressed in greater creativity, positive implicit affect, and high self-control. The results reveal previously unnoticed constructive effects of impression management, supporting the reframing of the trait as reflecting interpersonally oriented self-control.

The Impact of Social Desirability Biases on Self-Report Among College Student and Problem Gamblers

The impacts of two types of social desirability bias, self-deceptive enhancement (SDE) and impression management (IM), were examined on self-reports of gambling problems, measured by the South Oaks Gambling Screen (SOGS), and recent gambling behavior, as measured by the Timeline Followback (TLFB) method, in a sample of college students (N = 191), and a sample of treatment-seeking problem gamblers (N = 49). Consistent with our expectations, IM was negatively associated with SOGS scores in both samples. IM was most highly correlated with SOGS scores among treatment-seeking participants (r = -.44, p < .01). Substantial numbers of participants in both samples had high enough IM scores as to call into question the validity of their self-report gambling data, according to published interpretive guidelines. With respect to SDE, we had predicted that it would be positively related to gambling behaviors and gambling-related problems, but found that SDE was inversely related to SOGS scores in both samples. Very little evidence was found for social desirability effects on TLFB scores. Thus, preliminary evidence was obtained that self-report data on gambling problems, but not on gambling behavior (frequency of gambling and amount of time and money spent), may be susceptible to the effects of impression management in both college students and treatment-seeking gamblers.

The Moderating Effect of Impression Management on the Organizational Politics–Performance Relationship

This study investigates the complexities in the relationship between perceptions of organizational politics and performance ratings by examining the moderating effect of impression management on that relationship. Expectancy theory was employed to better understand the moderating effect. We proposed that two kinds of impression management tactics occurred: supervisor-focused and job-focused, respectively. It was hypothesized that increased exercise of impression management would mitigate the negative effects of perceptions of organizational politics and performance ratings. Data were collected from 290 full-time employees of ten state-owned enterprises in Taiwan. Hierarchical moderated regression analysis of data revealed that the job-focused tactics exerted a significant moderating effect on the relationship between perceptions of organizational politics and performance ratings. When perceptions of organizational politics are low, employees who engage in high levels of job-focused impression management tactics are more likely to gain better ratings than those who employ low-level tactics.

Appearing Smart: The Impression Management of Intelligence, Person Perception Accuracy, and Behavior in Social Interaction

Intelligence is an important trait that affects everyday social interaction. The present research utilized the ecological perspective of social perception to investigate the impression management of intelligence and strangers' evaluations of targets' intelligence levels. The ability to effectively portray an impression of intelligence to outside judges as well as interaction partners was appraised and the effect of impression management on the accurate judgment of intelligence was assessed. In addition, targets' behavior was studied in relation to impression management, perceived intelligence, and actual measured intelligence. Impression-managing targets appeared more intelligent to video judges but not to their interaction partner as compared to controls. The intelligence quotient (IQ) of impression-managing targets was more accurately judged than controls' IQ. Impression-managing targets displayed distinct nonverbal behavioral patterns that differed from controls. Looking while speaking was a key behavior: It significantly correlated with IQ, was successfully manipulated by impression-managing targets, and contributed to higher perceived intelligence ratings.

The impact of political skill on impression management effectiveness.

In this study, the authors investigated the effect of an individual's political skill on the relationships between 5 different impression management tactics (intimidation, exemplification, ingratiation, self-promotion, and supplication) and supervisor evaluations of performance. To test these relationships, the authors used a matched sample of 173 supervisor-subordinate dyads who worked full time in a state agency. Findings showed that individuals who used high levels of any of the tactics and who were politically skilled achieved more desirable supervisor ratings than did those who used the tactics but were not politically skilled. Opposite results were found when impression management usage was low. That is, individuals who were not politically skilled created a more desirable image in their supervisors' eyes than did their politically skilled counterparts when they did not use these tactics. Practical and research implications for the findings as well as directions for future research are offered.

Using the BIDR to Distinguish the Effects of Impression Management and Self-Deception on the Criterion Validity of Personality Measures: A Meta-Analysis

Although the use of personality tests for personnel selection has gained increasing acceptance, researchers have raised concerns that job applicants may distort their responses to inflate their scores. In the present meta-analysis, we examined the effects of the two dimensions of social desirability, impression management and self-deception, on the criterion validity of personality constructs using the balanced inventory of desirable responding (BIDR). The results indicate that impression management and self-deception did not create spurious effects on the relationship between personality measures and performance, nor did they function as performance predictors. Moreover, removing the influence of impression management or self-deception from personality measures did not substantially attenuate the criterion validity of personality variables. Implications of the results and directions for future research are also discussed.

Interactive effects of impression management and organizational politics on job performance

AbstractThe purpose of this research was to explore the interactive effect of organizational politics and impression management on supervisor ratings of employee performance. We hypothesized that the negative relationship between organizational politics and supervisor‐rated performance is weaker among employees who are high in impression management than among those low in impression management. Data were collected from a matched sample of 112 white‐collar employees and their supervisors. Results indicated that the interaction of organizational politics and impression management explained a significant incremental amount of variance in supervisor ratings of employee performance. These findings demonstrated that the extent to which an individual engaged in impression management in a non‐political atmosphere may have been a key component to receiving favorable performance ratings. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley &amp; Sons, Ltd.

Can we trust self-reports of driving? Effects of impression management on driver behaviour questionnaire responses

Driver behaviour is often studied by using self-reports and questionnaires. Despite their obvious advantages, questionnaires are vulnerable to socially desirable response tendencies. In this study, the effects of socially desirable responding on self-reports of driving were studied by recording self-reports of driving in both public and private settings. In public settings, 47 applicants for a driving instructor training course completed the driver behaviour questionnaire (DBQ) and balanced inventory for socially desirable responding as a part of the entrance examination. In a private setting, 54 students of that training course completed the same questionnaires anonymously in the classroom. ANOVA results showed a difference between the two settings in six DBQ item scores, such that aberrant behaviours were reported less frequently in public than in private settings. The results indicated that bias caused by socially desirable responding is relatively small in DBQ responses.

Effects of impression management and self-deception on the predictive validity of personality constructs.

This study tests whether 2 types of response distortion (self-deception and impression management) affect the predictive validity of 2 of the "Big 5" personality dimensions, conscientiousness and emotional stability, in 2 applicant samples of long-haul semitruck drivers (n = 147 and n = 139). As hypothesized, conscientiousness (p = -.26 and -.26) and emotional stability (p = -.23 and -.21) were valid predictors of voluntary turnover in the 2 samples. Also as hypothesized, conscientiousness was a valid predictor of supervisory ratings of performance (p = .41 and .39) in the 2 samples. Although not hypothesized, emotional stability was also significantly related to supervisor ratings of performance (p = .23 and .27). Results from structural equations modeling indicated that applicants did distort their scores on both personality dimensions and the distortion occurred both through self-deception and impression management; however, neither type of distortion attenuated the predictive validities of either personality construct.