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Drawing upon theories of ethical ideologies (idealism and relativism) and work locus of control, this study aims to examine how ethical ideology in job seekers influences their use of deceptive impression management (deceptive IM) behavior during job interviews.

A time-lagged study was conducted with two measurement waves to test our hypotheses. AMOS-SEM, which included bootstrapping (5,000 re-sampling) procedures to analyze the data, was used.

Results indicate that a job seeker's relativistic ethical ideology influences their use of deceptive IM behavior during job interviews and work locus of control – internal [WLOC (internal)] mediates this relationship. Exploring the relationship between ethical ideologies of job seekers and their deceptive IM behavior at job interviews, this study found that relativistic individuals with WLOC (internal) were more inclined to engage in deceptive IM.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is one of the first studies to explore the role of ethical ideology in influencing deception IM behavior during job interviews. Knowledge of the relationship between job seekers ethical ideologies and deception IM behavior at job interviews would alert HR managers to adopt additional screening processes to detect candidates who indulge in deceptive IM behavior to exaggerate their image to influence the interviewer's perception.

Automatic evaluation of job interviews has become an alternative for assessing interviewees. Therefore, questions arise regarding applicant reactions and behavior when algorithms automatically evaluate applicants' interview responses. This study tests arguments from previous research suggesting that applicants whose interviews will be automatically evaluated may use less impression management (IM), but could react more negatively to the interview.

Participants (N = 124; primarily German students) took part in an online mock interview where they responded to interview questions via voice recordings (i.e. an asynchronous interview). Prior to the interview, half of them were informed that their answers would be evaluated automatically (vs by a human rater). After the interviews, participants reported their honest and deceptive IM behavior as well as their reactions to the interview.

Participants in the automatic evaluation condition engaged in less deceptive IM, felt they had fewer opportunities to perform during the interview, and provided shorter interview answers.

The findings of this study suggest a trade-off between IM behavior and applicant reactions in technologically advanced interviews. Furthermore, the results indicate that automatically evaluated interviews might affect interview validity (e.g. because of less deceptive IM) and influence interviewees' response behavior.

Hiring managers might hope that automatically evaluated interviews decrease applicants' use of deceptive IM. However, the results also challenge organizations to pay attention to negative effects of automatic evaluation on applicant reactions.

This study is the first empirical study investigating the impact of automatically evaluated interviews on applicant behavior and reactions.

Being ignored or excluded is a painful experience. Belongingness theory suggests that individuals inherently desire for belongingness and social interactions. This study aims to explore whether ostracized employees take actions to seek potential re-inclusion in the workplace.

Data were collected from a two-wave survey. Ordinary least squares regressions were conducted to test the hypotheses.

Workplace ostracism is positively associated with victims’ impression management behaviors (i.e. self-promotion and exemplification) through need for approval. In addition, these indirect relationships are more salient for victims with stronger self-face concerns.

This study examines how ostracized employees strive for potential re-inclusion and who are more likely to seek approval. Specifically, this study identifies two impression management behaviors as victims’ potential re-inclusion tactics in response to ostracism in the workplace.

Asynchronous Video Interviews (AVIs) incorporating Artificial Intelligence (AI)-assisted assessment has become popular as a pre-employment screening method. The extent to which applicants engage in deceptive impression management (IM) behaviors during these interviews remains uncertain. Furthermore, the accuracy of human detection in identifying such deceptive IM behaviors is limited. This study seeks to explore differences in deceptive IM behaviors by applicants across video interview modes (AVIs vs Synchronous Video Interviews (SVIs)) and the use of AI-assisted assessment (AI vs non-AI). The study also investigates if video interview modes affect human interviewers' ability to detect deceptive IM behaviors.

The authors conducted a field study with four conditions based on two critical factors: the synchrony of video interviews (AVI vs SVI) and the presence of AI-assisted assessment (AI vs Non-AI): Non-AI-assisted AVIs, AI-assisted AVIs, Non-AI-assisted SVIs and AI-assisted SVIs. The study involved 144 pairs of interviewees and interviewers/assessors. To assess applicants' deceptive IM behaviors, the authors employed a combination of interviewee self-reports and interviewer perceptions.

The results indicate that AVIs elicited fewer instances of deceptive IM behaviors across all dimensions when compared to SVIs. Furthermore, using AI-assisted assessment in both video interview modes resulted in less extensive image creation than non-AI settings. However, the study revealed that human interviewers had difficulties detecting deceptive IM behaviors regardless of the mode used, except for extensive faking in AVIs.

The study is the first to address the call for research on the impact of video interview modes and AI on interviewee faking and interviewer accuracy. This research enhances the authors’ understanding of the practical implications associated with the use of different video interview modes and AI algorithms in the pre-employment screening process. The study contributes to the existing literature by refining the theoretical model of faking likelihood in employment interviews according to media richness theory and the model of volitional rating behavior based on expectancy theory in the context of AVIs and AI-assisted assessment.

Drawing on the perspectives of emotional labor, self-concept and impression management, this study presents two major findings: (1) employees' excessive reliance on impression management can bother supervisors, and (2) the effectiveness of impression management depends on how the management affects targets' attribution of characteristics to actors.

The study uses a cross-sectional design and a sample of 259 employees to investigate the antecedents of abusive supervision and, in this regard, the potential mediating effects of impression management. Through Mplus analysis, the authors specifically show that deep acting and surface acting affect impression management and that impression management activates abusive supervision.

Emotional labor is critical in triggering abusive supervision through impression management. The study specifically shows that impression management mediates two types of relationships: (1) the relationship between deep acting and abusive supervision, and (2) the relationship between surface acting and abusive supervision. The findings contribute to the abusive supervision literature by clarifying how impression management functions.

This study, by addressing how emotional labor is a potential antecedent of abusive supervision, reveals that impression management can be a mixed blessing, insofar as emotional labor can contribute to abusive supervision.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between employees’ deference to leaders’ authority and their upward ingratiatory behavior, which may be invigorated by two personal resources (dispositional greed and social cynicism) and two organizational resources (informational justice and forgiveness climate).

In this study survey data were collected among employees who work in the banking sector.

Strict adherence to leaders’ authority stimulates upward ingratiatory behavior, especially when employees (1) have a natural tendency to want more, (2) are cynical about people in power, (3) believe they have access to pertinent organizational information and (4) perceive their organization as forgiving of mistakes.

For human resource (HR) managers, this study points to the risk that employees’ willingness to comply blindly with the wishes of organizational leaders can escalate into excessive, inefficient levels of flattery. Several personal and organizational conditions make this risk particularly likely to materialize.

This study extends prior human resource management (HRM) research by revealing the conditional effects of an unexplored determinant of upward ingratiatory behavior, namely, an individual desire to obey organizational authorities unconditionally.

Prior research in psychology reports an age-based bias against narcissists. We examine whether managers' reactions to narcissistic subordinates exhibit a similar bias. Using an experimental method, where we manipulate subordinate narcissism, we find evidence of an age-based bias. Older managers react to a narcissistic subordinate by making conservative revisions to the subordinate's aggressive accounting estimates. They do so even at the cost of failing to meet a personally beneficial earnings target. A test of moderated mediation shows the actions of older managers (in their late 40s and older) were driven by their negative perceptions of the narcissistic subordinate. Our work demonstrates that not all individuals perceive narcissists the same way, and has implications for manger/subordinate relationships, and group dynamics involving mixed personalities and ages.

This paper aims to review the latest management developments across the globe and pinpoint practical implications from cutting-edge research and case studies.

This briefing is prepared by an independent writer who adds their own impartial comments and places the articles in context.

An interview transitions through four naturally occurring stages: the initial impression formed in the first few seconds when the candidate and interviewer first lay eyes on one another; a rapport building stage of several minutes to help each party settle in; the body of the interview in which job skills and culture-fit are assessed; and the close, when the interviewer asks if the candidate has any questions about the job or company.

The paper provides strategic insights and practical thinking that have influenced some of the world’s leading organizations.

The briefing saves busy executives and researchers hours of reading time by selecting only the very best, most pertinent information and presenting it in a condensed and easy-to-digest format.

This paper aims to examine how and why consumers respond to chief executive officer (CEO) activism on social media. The authors developed a conceptual model that proposes impression management as a mechanism for consumer response to CEO activism.

In Study 1a, the authors examined 83,259 tweets from 90 CEOs and compared consumer responses between controversial and noncontroversial tweets. In Study 1b, the authors replicated the analysis, using a machine-learning topic modeling approach. In Studies 2 and 3, the authors used experimental designs to test the theoretical mechanism.

On average, consumers tend to respond more to CEO posts dealing with noncontroversial issues. Consumers’ relative reluctance to like and share controversial posts is motivated by fear of rejection. However, CEO fame reverses this effect. Consumers are more likely to engage in controversial activist threads by popular CEOs. This effect holds for consumers high (vs low) in public self-consciousness. CEO fame serves as a “shield” behind which consumers protect their online image.

The study focused on Twitter (aka “X”) in the USA. Future research may replicate the study in other social media platforms and countries. The authors introduce “shielding” – liking and sharing content authored by a recognizable source – as a tactic for impression management on social media.

Famous CEOs should speak up about controversial issues on social media because their voice helps consumers engage more in such conversations.

This paper offers a theoretical framework to understand consumer reactions to CEO activism.