Impression Management Motives Research Articles

EXPRESS: Understanding Unitized Food Choice – The Role of Social Context and Marketing Factors in Mitigating Overconsumption

The unit bias, which asserts that consumption decreases as a food unit size decreases, is a prominent effect studied in psychology, health, and obesity research domains; yet, little is known about when or why this effect occurs, or how marketing plays a role in the effect. To address this gap in the literature, this research extends the current understanding of the unit bias by proposing the Social Unitization Effect (SUE), which posits that consumers’ selection of discrete unitized foods is dependent on impression management motives. That is, when impression management motives are low, consumers choose a greater number of small (vs. large) food units; however, in social (public) settings, when impression management motives are higher, this difference between small and large food units selected is attenuated. This effect is driven by a reduction in the number of small units selected when consumers are with others (vs. when they are alone). The research then demonstrates how the SUE manifests in various marketing contexts via marketing-related factors like servicescape design (e.g., in-store surveillance), food branding (e.g., branding food as ‘mini’), and food design (i.e., the shape of food units). These findings offer novel and actionable implications for marketers, health advocates, and consumers.

Association between abusive supervision and nurses’ withholding voice about patient safety: the roles of impression management motivation and speak up-related climate

BackgroundAbusive supervision by the nurse manager significantly influences nurses’ withholding voice about patient safety. The role of impression management motivation and speak up-related climate is crucial in understanding their connection. This study aimed to explore the relationship between abusive supervision, impression management motivation, speak up-related climate, and withholding voice about patient safety.MethodsThis cross-sectional study employed a convenience sampling method to recruit 419 clinical nurses from Taizhou Hospital, Zhejiang Province, China, between 1 November 2022 and 31 January 2023. The study adhered to the STROBE checklist. Abusive supervision and impression management motivation were assessed using the Chinese versions of the Abusive Supervision Scale and the Impression Management Motivation Scale, respectively. Withholding voice about patient safety and speak up-related climate were identified using the Chinese version of the Speaking Up about Patient Safety Questionnaire.ResultsNurse leaders’ abusive supervision (β=0.40, p<0.01) and nurses’ impression management motivation (β=0.10, p<0.01) significantly and positively influenced nurses’ withholding voice about patient safety. We introduced impression management motivation as a mediating variable, and the effect of abusive supervision on nurses’ withholding voice decreased (β from 0.40 to 0.38, p< 0.01). Nurses’ speak up-related climate played a moderating role between abusive supervision and impression management motivation (β= 0.24, p<0.05).ConclusionsAbusive supervision by nursing leaders can result in nurses withholding voice about patient safety out of self-protective impression management motives. This phenomenon inhibits nurses’ subjective initiative and undermines their proactive involvement in improving patient safety, and hinders the cultivation of a culture encouraging full participation in patient safety, which should warrant significant attention.

Research on the negative effect of product scarcity appeals on the purchase intention of green products and its mechanism.

Studies have shown that product scarcity appeals affect consumers' perceived scarcity, willingness to pay, and other responses, and that scarcity appeal has the potential to cause consumers to pay higher attention to the product. However, there is a lack of research on the psychological responses of consumers to scarcity appeal from the perspective of perceived green washing. In this paper, three experiments are conducted to demonstrate the impact of product scarcity appeals on consumers' purchase intentions. The research shows that when green products use product scarcity appeals as a strategy, consumers' purchase intentions are affected, but consumers' information processing about the product is the most important determinant. Perceived green washing mediates the negative effect of product scarcity appeals on green product purchase intentions. And impression management motives moderate the negative effect of product scarcity appeals on green product purchase intentions. The findings of the study not only help companies to effectively adopt the right advertising strategies to improve their marketing effectiveness, but also help them to explore the market for green products.

How to inspire green creativity among Gen Z hotel employees: an investigation of the cross-level effect of green organizational climate

Green creativity (GC) serves as the cornerstone in driving green innovation. However, GC is the result of individual ideas, so motivating Gen Z employees, who are the primary employees to propose novel and practical environmental protection solutions, will in large part determine the future of hotel management. Drawing from social information processing theory and the componential model of creativity, this paper incorporates the variables of prosocial motivation, impression management motivation (IMM) and ecological reflexivity to develop a cross-level model of the impact of green organizational climate (GOC) on the GC of Gen Z employees. A total of 260 Gen Z employees from 37 four- and five-star hotels in China are empirically analyzed using HLM software. We demonstrate that GOC enhances the GC of Gen Z employees through prosocial motivation and IMM. We also find that prosocial motivation is more likely to stimulate Gen Z employees’ GC under high ecological reflexivity, but that ecological reflexivity does not moderate the relationship between IMM and GC. Our study enriches the cross-level mechanism of the impact of GOC on GC from the perspectives of “green for others” and “green for myself”. These results provide practical and cost-effective insights for sustainable hotel green development.

How and when humble leadership influences employee adaptive performance? The roles of self-determination and employee attributions

PurposeThe present study aimed to examine the relationship between humble leadership (HL) and employee adaptive performance by testing the mediating role of self-determination and the moderating role of employee attributions of HL.Design/methodology/approachA three-wave, two-source design was used to collect quantitative data from 301 employees and 45 direct supervisors of mainland Chinese enterprises. Testing the hypotheses was conducted through multiple regression analysis and moderated regression analysis.FindingsResults showed that HL was positively related to employee adaptive performance. Additionally, the relationship between HL and employee adaptive performance was mediated by self-determination. Furthermore, this positive effect of HL on self-determination was minimized among employees who attribute HL to impression management motives but is insignificant for employees who attribute HL to performance improvement motives.Originality/valueIt has been widely concerned that the traditional “top-down” leadership styles are associated with employee adaptive performance; however, the role of bottom-up leadership styles on employee adaptive performance has only been sporadically examined. The present study introduced HL, a typical bottom-up leadership style and developed a moderated mediation model to investigate the potential effect of HL on employee adaptive performance. Moreover, by confirming the mediating role of self-determination, the authors further uncover how HL facilitates employees' adaptive performance. Meanwhile, the moderating role of employee attributions of HL found in this study offers new insights into the understanding of the effectiveness of HL.

Sizzle or Fizzle? Supply and Consumption Dynamics of Home-Cooked Food on Sharing Platform

To address the growing obesity crisis, governments are promoting home cooking to improve dietary habits. Home-cooked food-sharing platforms, a manifestation of the sharing economy, offer consumers healthy food options. While the economic benefits of the sharing economy have been extensively studied, little is known about its impact on non-economic factors, such as consumers’ health. To address this gap, we conduct an empirical study using data from a mobile kitchen-sharing platform and four controlled experiments to investigate whether the sharing economy helps consumers develop healthy eating habits. We use manual coding and machine learning methods to evaluate the healthiness of over 180,000 unique dishes and examine food provision and consumption on the platform. Our findings indicate that as consumers use the platform more frequently, they tend to consume more unhealthy food. Additionally, sellers who receive more orders and earn more revenue tend to offer less healthy food over time. Two controlled experiments prove consumers are more likely to order unhealthy food online. Furthermore, these experiments provide causal evidence that consumer food consumption patterns drive seller food provision rather than vice versa. Our results suggest that the sharing economy may have negative consequences due to misaligned interests between sellers and consumers. Fortunately, we identify conditions that may mitigate these effects in empirical analyses and two experiments. Specifically, consumers who choose dine-in options (as opposed to takeaway) and those who order for groups (as opposed to individual orders) tend to make healthier food choices on the platform due to impression management motivation.

상사의 꼰대평가 우려가 피드백 회피 행동에 미치는 영향

The purpose of this study was to examine whether the term ‘Kkondae', which emerged as a result of the development of generational conflict within the organization, causes supervisors to apprehension of evaluation. Based on the previous studies, we developed a scale Apprehension of kkondae evaluation, confirmed the effects of Apprehension of kkondae evaluation, which is increased by Chemyeon sensitivity, on negative feedback avoidance behavior, and verified whether Supervisors' impression Management motive moderates it. For this purpose, a survey was conducted on middle managers in their 30s and 50s who have subordinates in domestic companies, and a total of 246 employees were analyzed. The main results are as follows. First, Chemyeon sensitivity increased Apprehension of kkondae evaluation, Second, Apprehension of kkondae evaluation increased Negative feedback avoidance behavior. Third, Chemyeon sensitivity had a positive effect on Negative feedback avoidance behavior by mediating Apprehension of kkondae evaluation. Fourth, the relationship between Chemyeon sensitivity and Apprehension of kkondae evaluation was positively moderated by the Supervisor's impression management motive. Finally, in the indirect effect of Apprehension of kkondae evaluation, the higher the Supervisor's impression management motive, the higher the negative feedback avoidance behavior, verifying that moderated mediating effect was significant. This study empirically confirmed that there is a apprehension about being evaluated Kkondae by supervisors in organizations, and suggested limitations and future research directions.

Facilitation or inhibition? research on the double-edged sword effect of peer abusive supervision on bystander proactive behavior

PurposeBased on the Cognitive Appraisal Theory of Stress, this study aims to reveal the mechanism of peer abusive supervision on bystander proactive behavior through two different paths: bystander assertive impression management motivation and bystander defensive impression management motivation. Besides, the moderating effects of bystander uncertainty tolerance on the two paths are also explored.Design/methodology/approachIn this study, 438 employees and their direct leaders from eight Chinese companies were surveyed in a paired survey at three time points, and the empirical data was analyzed using Mplus 7.4 software.FindingsPeer abusive supervision leads bystanders to develop assertive impression management motivation and, thus, to exhibit more proactive behaviors. At the same time, peer abusive supervision also causes bystanders to develop defensive impression management motivation, which reduces the frequency of performing proactive behaviors. In addition, this study finds that bystander uncertainty tolerance plays a moderating role in influencing bystander assertive impression management motivation and bystander defensive impression management motivation in response to peer abusive supervision.Originality/valueStarting from the bystander perspective, this study verifies the double-edged sword effect of peer abusive supervision on bystander proactive behavior as well as the mechanism of differentiated effects through cognitive appraisal, which broadens the scope of the research on abusive supervision, and deepens the academic understanding and development of the Cognitive Appraisal Theory of Stress. At the same time, it also provides new ideas for organizations to reduce the negative effects of workplace abusive behavior.

The effect of interpersonal conflict on employee behaviors: the role of perception of politics and competence uncertainty

PurposeConflict, between individuals and groups, in organizations is a common phenomenon and can have varied implication for the employee and the organization. This paper aims to determine whether experiencing interpersonal conflict drives employees to engage in prosocial behavior (prohibitive voice) and antisocial behavior (interpersonal deviance). Using Stressor–Emotion Model, Uncertainty Management Theory and Impression Management Motives, this study examines the relationship and explores competence uncertainty as a mediator and perception of politics as a moderator.Design/methodology/approachThis study uses a cross-sectional design where data collected is from 386 employees working in nine different public sector enterprises in India. Structural equation modeling using SPSS AMOS was used to analyze the hypothesized relationships.FindingsThe results show that interpersonal conflict leads to both prohibitive voice behavior and interpersonal deviance. However, the mediating role of competence uncertainty is valid only for the effect of conflict on interpersonal deviance. Also, the perception of politics strengthens the positive relationship between interpersonal conflict and competence uncertainty.Originality/valueTo the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is one of the first empirical studies to have validated prosocial and antisocial work behavior as outcomes of interpersonal conflict. Again, this is one of the first few studies to examine the mechanism through which interpersonal conflict impacts interpersonal deviance.

Ordering alone or together? The effect of ordering situation on over-ordering behavior

Although social dining is prone to over-ordering that can lead to food waste, few studies to date have shown how the ordering situation of social dining influences over-ordering behavior. In this study, we analyzed how companion effects in ordering situations contribute to and inhibit over-ordering behavior through two laboratory experiments. By using a contextual manipulation method, we sourced data from 565 participants situated in Chengdu, China. The results showed that the presence of ordering companions significantly exacerbated tendencies to over-ordering, which was driven by the mediating mechanism of impression management motivation. In addition, ordering orientation significantly moderated this relationship. This study also showed that in the presence of a boundary condition of waiter intervention in the ordering situation, the ordering decision maker's over-ordering behavior was significantly inhibited, thus avoiding food waste. The findings of this study provide a better understanding of companion effects in the ordering situations and offer practical guidance for promoting sustainability in the food system.

Examining the mediating effects of motivation between job insecurity and innovative behavior using a variable-centered and a person-centered approach.

The fierce market competition environment makes employees feel insecure at work. While it is difficult for enterprises to provide employees with a sense of security, they have to rely on employees' innovative behavior to seek competitive advantage. Therefore, this study focuses on how employees engage in innovative behavior when they face job insecurity. Using a variable-centered approach, this study aims to examine the mediating effects of intrinsic and impression management motivation in the relationship between quantitative and qualitative job insecurity and innovative behavior, including proactive and reactive innovative behavior. In addition, a person-centered approach is used to investigate whether it is possible to distinguish different combinations of quantitative and qualitative job insecurity, and examine the effect of these job insecurity profiles on motivation and innovative behavior. We used 503 data sets collected via the Credamo platform in China into the data analysis. The study found that quantitative job insecurity affects proactive and reactive innovative behavior through impression management motivation and that qualitative job insecurity affects proactive and reactive innovative behavior through intrinsic and impression management motivation. In addition, three job insecurity profiles were identified: balanced high job insecurity, balanced low job insecurity, and a profile dominated by high quantitative job insecurity, all of which have significantly different effects on motivation and innovative behavior. This study contributes to provide new insights into the relationship between job insecurity and innovative behavior and compensate for the limitation of the traditional variable-centered approach that cannot capture heterogeneity within the workforce.

Impact of Mianzi consciousness on unethical pro-organizational behavior: the roles of impression management motive, educational level, party affiliation in China

Impact of Mianzi consciousness on unethical pro-organizational behavior: the roles of impression management motive, educational level, party affiliation in China

How family motivation affects Chinese hotel employees' extra-role behaviors: A serial mediation model from an instrumental perspective

Hospitality management research pays much attention to how work-related factors affect employees’ extra-role behaviors, while the potential role of work-family factors seems to be neglected. Using a sample of employees and their direct supervisors from several five-star hotels in China, a three-wave survey study was conducted to explore the effects of family motivation on employees' organizational citizenship behaviors (OCBs) and voice behaviors, as well as to clarify the underlying mechanisms. The results show that family motivation stimulates employees to see their jobs as a means to obtain financial rewards to support their families (i.e., job instrumentality) and then to be more concerned about their jobs’ security. Further, job security concern would enhance employees’ impression management motives, leading to more OCBs toward different targets while inhibiting voice behaviors. Implications for family motivation and extra-role behaviors research and practice are discussed.

Protect the environment for impressing others? Understanding whether, why, and when relational mobility shapes individual pro-environmental behaviors

Despite a substantial body of literature on pro-environmental behaviors (PEBs), there has been an overlook of whether and how broader social contexts (relational mobility in particular) may shape PEBs. Integrating the perspective of the person-context interaction with impression management theory, our research aims to understand whether, why, and when relational mobility, an important societal factor, impacts individual self-reported PEBs. Study 1 utilized a national representative dataset and found that relational mobility was positively associated with PEBs. Study 2 replicated this result using a new sample, and further found that relational mobility increased PEBs via impression management motivation. Finally, Study 3 was conducted with an experimental design, revealing that environmental self-identity strengthened the mediating effect identified in Study 2. The findings highlight that PEBs can be shaped by broader environmental factors via impression management motivation, which provides practical implications for promoting environmental sustainability.

Promotive Voice, Leader-member Exchange, and Creativity Endorsement: The Role of Supervisor-Attributed Motives

Employee voice is perceived as an approach with both significant advantages and disadvantages. The current study aims to analyse the behaviours of supervisors when endorsing the ideas of employees who raise promotive voices and consider the employees positively for the development of quality relationships. Specifically, 970 employees were recruited from various small and medium enterprises (SMEs), including manufacturing and electronics companies, in Pakistan for the current study participation. Data collection was conducted in two stages through two sources (supervisors and subordinates) before examining the collected data on the Mplus software for random coefficient regression analyses. Subordinates’ promotive voice was significantly and positively correlated to the Leader-Member-Exchange (LMX) quality and creative idea endorsement when supervisors interpreted the voice as driven more by performance enhancement motives instead of impression management motives. The findings suggested that performance enhancement motives and impression management motives would produce contrasting material consequences for subordinates. The present study limitations and future research directions were also discussed.

Role of Leader-Member Exchange, Knowledge Hiding, Prosocial Motivation, And Impression Management Motivation for The Creative Potential of Employees

The main purpose of the research was to investigate whether employees who develop a high-quality leader-member exchange (LMX), do they also engage in knowledge exchange activities or they hide knowledge, and do their knowledge hiding affects creativity. Data for this investigation were collected from 413 subordinates and their respective 57 supervisors working in a pharmaceutical organisation operating in Jakarta, Indonesia. The collected data was then analyzed for regression and mediated moderation with MPlus. We found that LMX may have a negative side, as those in quality exchange relationships with supervisors may hide knowledge from others, which may affect the creative potential of employees. With this research, we have shown that interpersonal mechanisms in general and LMX in particular will not always be beneficial for the exchange of knowledge and creativity of employees. We contributed to creativity research by introducing prosocial motivation and impression-management motivation as having a moderating role in knowledge hiding and creativity relationships. Our research revealed that the motivation of a focal employee overrides knowledge hiding, the underlying social exchange, knowledge hiding, and creativity relationships. The motivation of focal employees influences the social exchange patterns by affecting knowledge hiding among coworkers, thereby enhancing/ suppressing their creativity. Limitations and future research directions were also discussed.

Adult attachment and interpersonal emotion regulation motives in daily life.

Interpersonal goals and adult attachment have implications for how people interact with others as well as for emotion experience and regulation. Literature on intrapersonal emotional processes has typically not examined motivations underlying people's engagement with others' emotions and its connections to individual differences related to close relationships such as attachment. This study analyzed the relationships between interpersonal emotion regulation motives, perceived social interaction outcomes, and attachment. Undergraduates (N = 211) reported their trait attachment. Experience sampling was used to examine the reasons why they wanted to regulate others' emotions during daily interactions and perceived changes in their own well-being and relationship quality with the target of regulation. Attachment anxiety was associated with more self-focused prohedonic motives and impression management motives, while attachment avoidance predicted less perceived increases in emotional and relational well-being after interactions. People who tended to report more (self- and other-focused) prohedonic and less impression management motives in daily life perceived more positive changes in their emotional well-being and people who tended to report higher emotional similarity motives perceived more positive changes in their relational well-being after interactions People also perceived more positive emotional and relational interaction outcomes at times when they held more (self- and other-focused) prohedonic, impression management, or relationship maintenance motives and less self-focused performance and relationship distancing motives. Overall, these findings suggest that attachment anxiety may guide why people engage with other people's emotions and these extrinsic interpersonal emotion regulation motives may play a role in socioemotional outcomes of daily interactions. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Earnings Conference: Anticipatory Impression Management Motivation, Casting, and Market Reactions (WITHDRAWN)

Earnings Conference: Anticipatory Impression Management Motivation, Casting, and Market Reactions (WITHDRAWN)

Can green advertising increase consumers' purchase intention of electric vehicles? An experimental study from China

Electric vehicles can mitigate global warming by eliminating carbon dioxide emissions. Conveying the above green information and other electric vehicle information through green advertising may increase consumers' purchase intentions. However, little literature has explored the relationship between green advertising and consumers' intention to buy electric vehicles. This paper uses an experimental method to analyse the nexus between green advertising and consumers' purchase intention of electric vehicles. The results show that: (1) compared with non-green advertising, green advertising can significantly increase consumers' purchase intentions for electric vehicles; (2) green perceived value and green product attitude are the two main channels through which green advertising affects consumers' purchase intention; (3) both of high environmental attitude and strong impression management motivation can enhance the influence of green advertising on consumers' purchase of electric vehicles. The research sheds light on the impact mechanism of green advertising and provides a new marketing instrument for sellers to promote electric vehicle sales.

What makes you proactive can burn you out: The downside of proactive skill building motivated by financial precarity and fear.

Proactivity at work is generally assumed to be preceded by positive motivational states with positive outcomes for employees. However, recent perspectives suggest downsides to proactive behavior, including that it can be driven by negative emotions or experienced as depleting for employees. Bringing these previously disconnected ideas together, we utilize cognitive-motivational-relational and self-determination theories to holistically examine the negative antecedents of proactivity and its outcomes. We argue that employees, particularly those with high impression management motives, experience burnout when financial precarity and fear drive them to proactively learn new skills. We test and show support for these hypotheses in a four-wave study of 1,315 university employees during the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, an external event that threatened employees' financial security. Theoretically, our findings broaden our understanding of the antecedents and consequences of proactivity, while expanding the role of fear at work beyond "flight" responses to include motivating protective effort. Practically, our findings help to understand both how employees proactively develop their skills in light of financial precarity and how these proactive efforts are experienced as depleting. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).