Impression Management Strategies Research Articles

The assessment and measurement of impression management in narrative reporting using the IMNR index

Purpose: The purpose of the article is to present the author’s own comprehensive method of testing impression management in narrative reporting and the possibility of using it to evaluate and measure impression management and identify the strategy of impression management in letters to shareholders. Methodology/approach: The development of the method of testing impression management in narrative reporting was preceded by a critical analysis of the literature. Content analysis and the IMNR (impression management in narrative reporting) index were used in the empirical study. The study covered ten letters to shareholders of Polish companies. Findings: The article presents a tool for assessing and measuring impression management, showing how it is calculated. It also presents the results of a survey, showing the possibilities of using the IMNR index. In the audited board of directors’ letters, the occurrence of all analysed impression management strategies was identified. The article discusses selected methods of impression management observed in those documents. Research limitations/implications: The proposed IMNR index is limited to selected impression management strategies and the means by which they can be detected. As the study was limited to selected companies, future research may investigate other entities or reporting forms. Additionally, only documents written in Polish were analysed. Originality/value: The article presents the original IMNR index, which makes it possible to comprehensively examine impression management and compare reports. The conducted empirical study covered a wide range of ways of managing impressions. Documents written in Polish were examined. As Polish researchers have been dealing with the issue of impression management by Polish companies since only relatively recently, the research gap, which this article partially fills, is extremely wide.

Broadcasting Laboratory Impression Management Strategy in Building the Image of IAIN Bone

This research aims to examine the impression management strategy of the Broadcasting Laboratory in building the image of IAIN Bone. This research presents an image or image strategy that shapes IAIN Bone's reputation as an organization with impression management carried out by the organization through social media broadcasts. The research uses descriptive qualitative research methods. This research design uses a case study with a communication scientific approach. Data collection techniques were carried out using observation, interviews, FGD, and documentation. Data analysis techniques are carried out by data reduction, data presentation, and drawing conclusions. The dominance of self-promotion strategies implemented by the Broadcasting Laboratory surpasses four other impression management strategies. Of course, this refers to the way branding image is built by highlighting positive things by mentioning the abilities they have. The ingratiation strategy carried out by the Broadcasting Laboratory further strengthens the characteristics of a humanist campus with an impression of attention from the audience because there are reasons to assess IAIN Bone such as Islamic, up to date, superior, humanist, and so on. Intimidation strategy, the video shown tries to get attention and is expected to give a favorable impression to the audience. The intimidation strategy is not widely implemented by the IAIN Bone Broadcasting Laboratory because it has the opportunity for conflicting arguments in cyberspace. In line with that, the Supplication strategy is also a strategy that is rarely used in the production of IAIN Bone Television and Radio Broadcasting Laboratory programs. The supplication strategy is considered a natural strategy that is rarely used by the “Sky News” production team to give a more natural impression of everything that happens at IAIN Bone.
 (Penelitian ini bertujuan mengkaji strategi impression management Laboratorium Penyiaran dalam membangun Citra IAIN Bone. Penelitian ini menyajikan strategi gambaran atau kesan citra yang membentuk reputasi IAIN Bone suatu organisasi dengan impression management yang dilakukan oleh organisasi melalui siaran media sosial dengan. Penelitian menggunakan metode penelitian deskriptif kualitatif. Desain penelitian ini menggunakan Studi kasus dengan pendekatan keilmuan Komunikasi. Teknik pengumpulan data dilakukan dengan observasi, wawancara, FGD, dan dokumentasi. penelitian. Teknik analisis data dilakukan dengan reduksi data, penyajian data, dan penarikan kesimpulan. Dominasi strategi self-promotion diterapkan Laboratorium Penyiaran melaempat strategi impression management yang lainnya. Tentu hal ini merujuk sebagaimana branding image dibangun dengan menonjolkan hal-hal yang positif dengan menyebutkan kemampuan-kemampuan yang dimiliki. Strategi ingratiation yang dilakukan Laboratorium Penyiaran semakin memperkuat ciri khas kampus yang humanis dengan kesan yang perhatian dari khalayak karena adanya alasan untuk menilai IAIN Bone seperti Islami, up to date, unggul, humanis, dan sebagainya. Strategi intimidation, video yang ditayangkan berupaya mendapat perhatian dan diharapkan mendapat kesan yang disukai oleh khalayak. Strategi intimidation tidak banyak diterapkan oleh Laboratorium Penyiaran IAIN Bone karena memiliki peluang terjadinya konflik pertentangan argumentasi di dunia maya. Sejalan dengan itu, strategi Supplication juga strategi yang jarang dilakukan dalam produksi program Laboratorium Penyiaran Televisi dan Radio IAIN Bone. Strategi supplication dianggap wajar menjadi strategi yang jarang dilakukan oleh tim produksi Sky News untuk memberikan kesan yang lebih natural dari segala hal yang terjadi di IAIN Bone.)

Managerial capture of sustainability assurance. Empirical evidence and capital market reactions

PurposeThis paper aims to investigate the potential influence of managers on sustainability assurance. When the quality of sustainability reporting is questionable because of subsequent restatements, the authors explore whether assurance is used to enhance its credibility as a legitimization tool or as an impression management strategy. Additionally, the authors analyze how capital markets react to this potential managerial capture and, particularly, whether investors penalize this practice through the cost of capital.Design/methodology/approachUsing an international sample from 2012 to 2016 and panel data regressions, this study relies on DICTION’s master variables of optimism and certainty to examine the impact of managers on assurance and the market’s reaction to these practices.FindingsThe study shows that some managers might use assurance as a legitimization tool rather than as a means of reinforcing the credibility of sustainability reporting. In such cases, the results reveal that investors penalize (reward) managerial influence (no influence) on assurance.Practical implicationsThe new findings help companies understand that they will not improve their financing terms if investors perceive that managers have influenced assurance. Moreover, these findings emphasize the need for standardization to clarify assurance criteria and prevent managerial influence.Social implicationsManagerial influence on assurance raises doubts about its value in terms of reducing information asymmetry and especially improving investors’ decision-making.Originality/valueThe present study represents the first evidence of the potential use of assurance for non-informative purposes. The authors provide clear evidence of how investors penalize managerial influence on assurance, in contrast to the mainstream literature, which shows that this practice always improves investors’ decision-making and is rewarded.

A Theoretical Exploration of the Nexus Between Performance Appraisal, Culture, and Impression Management

This study theoretically discusses that the impression management (IM) strategies that employees apply depending on the purpose of performance appraisal (PA) in organizations may vary in different cultures. The propositions developed are based on Schütz's four-dimensional classification of IM strategies and Trompenaars and Hampden-Turner's (1998) seven-dimensional model of culture. It has been proposed that employees may exhibit more assertive or defensive IM strategies for administrative PA, and offensive or protective IM strategies for developmental PA. Moreover, employees in particularistic, diffuse, and synchronous cultures may apply IM more frequently in the PA process. Employees in individualistic cultures may use defensive IM tactics for developmental PA, while in communitarian cultures they may resort to assertive IM. Furthermore, employees can apply offensive and assertive IM for administrative PA in ascription-oriented cultures, taking responsibility IM tactics in both administrative and developmental PAs in inner-directed cultures, and justification and excuse tactics in outer-directed cultures.

The Identity Construction of Microblog Users from the Perspective of Impression Management Theory

In recent years, the emergence of mobile social media and platforms has made the communication between people more and more convenient. As a social media platform based on user relations, microblog users can realize the real-time sharing and interaction of information in the form of multimedia such as text, pictures and videos. Therefore, it is of certain theoretical and practical significance to study how microblog users use this new social stage for impression management and identity construction. Based on impression management theory, this study adopts the method of combining qualitative and quantitative to analyze and study the motivation and strategy of ordinary microblog users (different from celebrities) when using microblog and their construction identities. The research shows that when ordinary microblog users use Weibo for impression management, most users prefer to use acquired impression management strategies, publishing positive, healthy and upward content, and through these they construct positive personal identities. In addition, the main motivation of these users for using microblog is to win likes and attention from others, which is beneficial for users to manage their image and better promote the healthy development of social network.

Managing Asymmetric Events With Anticipatory and Reactive Strategies

Impression management refers to the strategies a firm uses to influence how evaluators view the firm, a key factor that impacts firm outcomes and that is particularly salient when negative events are disclosed. Research to date has investigated how firms manage evaluator impressions either before or after such events, but considerations of how firms use anticipatory and reactive impression management together remains less developed. To address this limitation, we build on event-oriented perspectives in management and leverage theory from organizational impression management to first delineate how information asymmetric negative events—salient and damaging occurrences known first to firm insiders—enable firms to use anticipatory and reactive impression management strategies as an interrelated effort. We then investigate the degree to which evaluators’ reactions to anticipatorily managed events moderate reactive strategy selection following asymmetric events. We conclude by assessing the relative effectiveness of different strategic combinations on firm stock responses following an asymmetric event. Using a comprehensive sample of 238 late-stage, publicized clinical trial termination events in the pharmaceutical industry from 2003 to 2017, we find strong support for our hypotheses. Overall, this study seeks to demonstrate how firm impression management may be more nuanced and interrelated than previously theorized and how a greater understanding of these strategies can fundamentally shape how firms manage asymmetric events.

Graphs Usage for Impression Management Purposes: The Case of Canadian Oil and Gas Corporations

This study explores graphical depictions in annual and corporate social responsibility reports. The 10 largest Canadian corporations in the oil and gas industry were selected to focus on graph selectivity, enhancement, and distortions as impression management strategies. The results show evidence of selectivity and enhancement. However, unlike previous studies on graphical distortions, there is no evidence of favorable distortions in graphs. The graphs reported are well depicted and not distorted, indicating that this industry is rather cautious in its reporting. Potential explanations and reasons why this might be the case are offered. This study suggests the concept of “plausible deniability” in the context of graph manipulations.

Commodifying the self: a multimodal analysis of college YouTubers’ first day videos

ABSTRACT YouTubers focusing on college-related content have gained traction in recent years. This study explores the ways College YouTubers establish their personal branding online using a social semiotic perspective. Focusing on how two YouTubers of different cultural backgrounds, from the United States and Singapore, document their first day of college amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, a multimodal discourse analysis is carried out on the two videos to identify the prominent modes utilised to make meaning. We analyse the multimodal discourse of the videos of the College YouTubers and discuss the impression management strategies the online content creators adopted from the dramaturgical perspective. Our study seeks to contribute towards understanding how online content creators engage in digital labour and present themselves successfully in self-commodification through personal branding.

CSR as an impression-management strategy: the joint effect of disclosure tone management and earnings management

PurposeThis study aims to investigate corporate social responsibility (CSR) as an impression management strategy. It focuses on CSR associated with, both, disclosure tone management (TM) and earnings management (EM) practices to influence stakeholders’ perceptions.Design/methodology/approachBased on a sample of French listed companies (SBF 120) over an eight-year period, this study empirically investigated a total of 616 firm-year observations. This study firstly investigates the impact of EM and disclosure TM practices on CSR. Then, this study examines their joint effect to explore to which extent CSR is abused for impression management inducement. To address potential endogeneity issue that may be caused by reverse causality between CSR and EM, this study used the two-stage least square.FindingsMultivariate analyses indicate that CSR is positively and significantly influenced by EM, but negatively correlated to disclosure TM. However, results highlight the absence of a significant joint effect of both discretionary practicesResearch limitations/implicationsBecause this study deals only with French companies, results are applicable only to large French firms and should be interpreted with caution. Therefore, future research may need to examine another context.Practical implicationsAs CSR may be used for impression management incentives, all actors interested in socially responsible issues have to bring an initiative to prevent the deviation of CSR from moral and ethical standards.Social implicationsThis study sheds light on the impression management strategies used in CSR reporting, so users may have to read between lines. All stakeholders should be more cautious about the reliability of financial and non-financial information and the disclosure tone manipulation practices that may arise in narrative reports.Originality/valueThis research contributes to the debate around CSR from an impression management perspective. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is one of the first to associate CSR with, both, disclosure TM and EM in a regulated context.

Corpus Linguistics on the Impression Management Strategy of Indonesian Public Officials after Covid-19 Denial Statements

With the Covid-19 pandemic, public officials in Indonesia were prone to making inaccurate claims and to enacting policies that the public might have overlooked due to a lack of understanding of complex situations. However, after making these mistakes, public officials needed to restore their reputation and create a positive impression. This study aimed to investigate the impression management strategies employed by Indonesian public officials following such incidents. The researchers analysed a dataset of 2,000 Instagram captions from seven public officials over the course of a year, totalling 13,725 words and 196,154 tokens, using corpus linguistic techniques such as frequent words and keyword lists. The findings revealed that officials used different strategies such as ingratiation, self-promotion and supplication to manage their impression, and that positive attitudes and hard work were the main tools used by officials to improve their public image.

“What it do?” The effects of racial code-switching on industry turnover intention

PurposeRacial code-switching is an impression management behavior for people to blend into social and professional situations by adhering to norms outside their own. Drawing on the identity threat perspective, this study aims to examine the harmful effects of racial code-switching on employee psychological depression and hospitality industry turnover intentions.Design/methodology/approachThe current study used a two-wave time-lagged survey of 286 restaurant frontline employees. Participants were asked to rate their racial code-switching, identity threat and shame in the first survey. Participants reported their depression and industry turnover intention in the second survey one week later.FindingsThe results showed that employees that engaged in racial code-switching had higher intentions to leave the hospitality industry via the sequential mediating roles of identity threat, shame and depression.Practical implicationsThe findings provide practical implications on how hospitality practitioners can foster employee authenticity and tenure by evaluating impression management strategies. This paper provides a discussion, suggestions and future research directions on how to take sustainable actions toward diversity, equity, inclusion, justice and belonging.Originality/valueAlthough racial code-switching is a common behavioral strategy for whites and people of color, research on racial code-switching in the hospitality industry is limited. This study is among the first to examine racial code-switching’s health and career consequences.

‘On the inside I’m grossed out and wanting to puke’: Exploring professional facework and emotional labour as impression management tools in rural emergency medical services

Abstract In the foothills of rural Appalachia, situations arise where emergency medical services (EMS) providers—such as paramedics and emergency medical technicians—must reflect professionalism in their ‘face’. However, as EMS providers practice facework in their organizational roles, it is important to consider how they manage professionalism when emotional labour and dirty work are required, such as when supporting patients from underserved rural communities. Guided by 181 hours of participant observation with 23 interviews with EMS providers from two county-wide EMS organizations, this organizational ethnography reveals the value of impression management strategies in the form of emotional labour. Notably, such practices aid in EMS providers’ maintenance of professional face as they encounter face threats on the job. In such moments, EMS providers utilize emotional labour in their corrective and preventive facework. Importantly, this research makes a meaningful theoretical and practical contribution to organizational communication by illustrating the value of impression management, emotional labour, and facework that aid in the management of professionalism.

‘It is like talking to very good robots’: Experiences of online support groups for parents with babies during the COVID-19 lockdown in the United Kingdom

During the COVID-19 pandemic, many face-to-face group activities for new parents moved online. In this article, we share findings from 14 interviews conducted during the first lockdown in the United Kingdom with parents of babies under 12 months about their experiences of participating in online groups. Attendance at groups was treated as a survival mechanism or even a panacea for some parents, providing well-rounded entertainment and support for parents, their children and the parenting relationship. However, reviews of the online groups were mixed, with some deemed more adequate than others for online delivery. Parents expressed concerns about the lack of informal spaces in online contexts to share private conversations and the unnatural group conversations affected by the custom of taking turns to talk. These experiences highlighted what was important to parents: the need for the embodiment of connection. The peculiarity of the online setting saw the emergence of parenting display work; parental awareness of online impression management and self-presentation strategies. While online technologies are ubiquitous, online groups for parents are nascent, and these technologies require careful analysis and evaluation from users and facilitators.

Delicate dining with a date and burger binging with buddies: impression management across social settings and consumers' preferences for masculine or feminine foods.

Consumers often use their food choices as an impression management strategy to signal desirable aspects about themselves to others, especially in public places like restaurants and cafeterias, where the presence of others can promote certain consumption choices and preference patterns. In mating contexts, people prefer gender-typical traits and characteristics in a potential partner. Food options can also be classified according to their gender typicality, with certain alternatives perceived as feminine (e.g., salad, seafood) and with other options perceived as more masculine (e.g., steak, burger). Drawing on impression management theories from the drinking and dining domain and literature on sex differences in human mate preferences, we present a high-powered experiment investigating whether consumers' preferences for masculine or feminine foods depend on the social setting in which the food consumption takes place: dining with an attractive date (mating) or meeting and eating with friends (non-mating). Participants (N = 162, 46.9% females, 53.1% males; age M = 41.8 years, SD = 14.5) were randomly assigned to one of the two experimental conditions (mating vs. non-mating) and were asked to indicate their food preferences for 15 dishes that differed markedly in perceived femininity/masculinity. Consistent with our theorizing, females (males) generally had a stronger preference for foods perceived as more feminine (masculine), thereby supporting the gender-typicality thesis at the aggregate level. Furthermore, females in the mating condition-but not females in the non-mating condition-reported significantly stronger preferences for more feminine food alternatives. However, in direct contrast to our theorizing, males preferred more masculine meals in the non-mating condition (i.e., when dining with friends), whereas this gender-typical tendency did not emerge in the mating condition (i.e., when dining with an attractive date). We discuss the theoretical and practical implications of these findings and present a set of fruitful avenues for future research.

Can social disclosure induce a better corporate social performance?

Against the background of the debate on the social reporting-social performance link, this article aims to analyse the influence of social disclosures on social performance. Specifically, we analyse the effect of the voluntary disclosure of standardised indicators regarding labour practices and human rights on corporate social performance. A Tobit regression was used on data obtained through content analysis for a sample of 1,243 multinational enterprises for the period 2013–2017. The results show that both total and partial disclosure of the performance indicators are positively associated with higher social performance, confirming that the disclosure of such indicators is oriented towards the improvement of corporate sustainability as opposed to impression management strategies. We demonstrate that, even though companies may aim to satisfy stakeholder demands through the voluntary disclosure of labour practices, decent work and human rights indicators, these indicators can also act as catalysts for strengthening corporate social policies and practices. The findings provide a further motive to promote social reporting: its positive impact on corporate social performance favouring responsive labour management and greater social cohesion.

Do firms that perform well report differently compared to those that perform badly? Impression management in integrated reporting

Purpose This paper aims to investigate whether managers use impression management through the presentation of non-financial information in an integrated reporting setting. Design/methodology/approach The authors performed an experiment with experienced professional controllers and part-time students enrolled in the executive master’s degree in finance and control at universities in the Netherlands. In this experiment, we manipulated the financial performance to test if managers present non-financial information differently based on the firm’s financial performance. Findings This study found that impression management is not applied by including or excluding non-financial key performance indicators (KPIs) in the integrated report, but by using more prominent presentation forms for positive non-financial performance and non-prominent ones for negative non-financial performance. However, the use of impression management through the presentation form decreased when the firms’ financial performance was positive. In that instance, this study noted that managers statistically significantly more often decided to present poor non-financial performance in a prominent presentation format in comparison to managers who were not aware of the financial performance. Research limitations/implications A limitation of this paper is that the authors focused on only two impression management strategies: opportunistic/under-reporting and the presentation form. This analysis shows that the use of impression management mainly seems to occur through the presentation format. Future research could investigate other impression management strategies in an integrated reporting setting. Practical implications The results of this study are of importance for users of integrated reports, because it will provide more insight into whether firms are truly transparent in their integrated reports. Furthermore, the theoretical implication of this study is relevant to regulatory authorities, because it sheds light on the different forms of impression management used in integrated reporting and the influence of positively or negatively performing KPIs on the decisions of preparers of integrated reports. Originality/value Therefore, in this study, the authors add to prior literature by investigating the concept of impression management in an integrated reporting setting. More specifically, the authors perform an experiment and focus on different forms of impression management (the presentation format and under-reporting) through non-financial KPIs in an integrated reporting setting and link it to firm financial performance.

Impression Management Strategies and Organizational Culture of Manufacturing Companies in Anambra State, Nigeria

Organizations are faced with the problem of how employees promote themselves in order to give the organization a good identity that will build the image the organization intends to get. The broad objective of the study is to determine the type of relationship that exists between impression management strategies and organizational culture of manufacturing companies in Anambra State. Finding the relationship between self- promotion and organizational identity of manufacturing companies in Anambra State is the specific objective of study. The work was anchored on Social Identity Theory by Tijen. The population of the study is 183 workers and Pearson Moment Correlation Co-efficient was used to analyze the data. The finding showed that there is a significant relationship between self- promotion and organizational identity of manufacturing companies in Anambra state (Cal.r947 >Crit.r. 195). The study recommends that the focused manufacturing companies should adopt good strategies, incentives, and good ethical training should be introduced to encourage employees deliver positive organizational values to the public.

Self-help and masculinity

Abstract This study investigates the interactional norms of a manosphere discussion forum known as The Red Pill (TRP), and asks whether it can be conceptualised as a self-help group. 2104 posts and comments from regular users and high-status users in the community were analysed qualitatively to determine how the community is characterised by certain speech acts, and how these speech acts correspond to face-enhancement and face-threat as well as to certain impression management strategies. Since personal disclosure, advice-giving, and face-enhancement are key characteristics of TRP, it could be argued that TRP shares some functional characteristics with self-help communities. However, much of the advice given is unsolicited, a disproportionately high rate of face-enhancement is directed towards high-status users, and speech acts such as elaborating, and some advice-giving and personal disclosure seem to be used for self-promotion purposes. Furthermore, the prevalence of unhedged face-threats sets TRP apart from traditional supportive communities.

DELETING VIDEOS ON TIKTOK AS ALGORITHM RELATED IMPRESSION MANAGEMENT

On TikTok, users’ self-presentation is based on interaction and communication with and through short video content rather than on profile information or messaging. TikTok users commonly display awareness for how content is customized and develop strategies and video creation practices. Our qualitative interview study examines the practices of deleting videos and making videos private as forms of impression management online. We generally find that TikTok users deleted videos because the content or message did not represent their views or attitudes anymore or because they feared it would negatively affect their impression in offline reality. More experienced users also deleted videos in case they failed to achieve the desired feedback. We specifically identified impression management strategies related to participants’ algorithmic literacy. Participant’s assumptions of how the TikTok algorithm works influenced their decision to set videos to private instead of deleting them even if they only have small numbers of followers and likes or only occasionally post or interact with content. A main motivation to set a video to private was that deleting would mess up the users’ personalized algorithmic video feed and ultimately lead to missing trends they are looking for. Many participants also mentioned deleting videos would affect the impression the TikTok algorithm has of their profile and eventually push their videos to the wrong audiences. In this context, our results provide new insights into the effort and thought that users put into making short content on TikTok and how they manage this content to create online identities.

The Fundamental Recruitment Error: Candidate-Recruiter Discrepancy in Their Relative Valuation of Innate Talent vs. Hard Work

Innate talent and orientation toward hard work are highly important personal attributes with respect to workers’ productive capabilities. In this research, we identify a discrepancy between job candidates and recruiters in their relative valuation of these two attributes. Although innate talent is valued relatively more by job candidates than recruiters, the opposite is true for orientation toward hard work. We propose that the discrepancy is rooted in a misalignment of the fundamental motivations of the two parties in the job market. In seven studies (four preregistered), which include randomized trial experiments and quasi-experiments and use real life recruiters and job seekers (across a total of 112 industries) as participants, we provide evidence of the current effect and its underlying mechanism. Studies 1A–1C demonstrate the negative consequence of the discrepancy on job market efficiency, showing that it can lead candidates to adopt impression management strategies that lower their chance of getting the job. Studies 2A and 2B show that full-time workers consider career potential to be associated with both innate talent and hard work but position performance to be more strongly associated with hard work than innate talent. Finally, Studies 3A and 3B indicate that candidates are relatively more career-focused, whereas recruiters are relatively more position focused and that this difference in their relative focus mediates the current discrepancy. Implications of the present research for both job candidates and recruiters are discussed. Funding: This research was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China General Program [Grant 72172136] awarded to X. Dai and University of Macau Multi-Year Research Grants [MYRG2020-00030-FBA and MYRG2022-00126-FBA] awarded to K. Si. Supplemental Material: The online appendix is available at https://doi.org/10.1287/orsc.2023.1667 .