Potential Employees’ Impression Management Tactics and Human Resource Management Professionals’ Perspectives

Yıl 2023, Sayı: 95, 53 - 64, 26.12.2023

Yağmur Bakanoğlu , Emel Esen , Selin Karaca Varinlioğlu

https://doi.org/10.26650/imj.2023.95.1386466

Öz

This research aims to determine the impression management tactics used by potential employees that are important to employers in the job market, particularly in their curriculum vitaes (CVs) and interviews during the application process, and to identify which tactics are the most important to human resources (HR) specialists. The study has employed within its scope semi-structured interviews that allow a thorough examination of the participants’ feelings, attitudes, and thoughts with 45 potential employees and eight HR professionals. The study findings reveal that potential employees mostly prefer the tactics of building a favorable image, self-promotion, and supplication, whereas they use exemplification tactics less. Similar to these results, HR professionals also highlighted the tactics of building a favorable image, self-promotion, and supplication in recruitment interviews. The study results are expected to be beneficial for creating a more positive image of potential candidates in the labor market, both during the recruitment interviews and the job application stage.

JEL Classification : M1 , M10 , M12

Anahtar Kelimeler

impression management, self-presentation, human resources, potential employees, job application

Etik Beyan

The Yıldız Technical University Social and Human Sciences Research Ethics Committee granted approval for the data gathering techniques and methodologies to be employed in the study at hand.

Destekleyen Kurum

TUBITAK

Proje Numarası

This project is supported by the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TUBITAK) within the scope of 2209-A University Students Research Projects Support Program.

Kaynakça

• Andrews, M. C., & Kacmar, K. M. (2001). Impression management by association: Construction and validation of a scale. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 58(1), 142-161. DOI: 10.1006/jvbe.2000.1756 google scholar
• Boudt, K., & Thewissen, J. (2019). Jockeying for position in CEO letters: Impression management and sentiment analytics. Financial Management, 48(1), 77-115. google scholar
• Chen, C. C., Wen-Fen Yang, I., & Lin, W. C. (2010). Applicant impression management in job interview: The moderating role of interviewer affectivity. Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, 83(3), 739-757. doi:10.1348/096317909x473895. google scholar
• Ellis, A. P., West, B. J., Ryan, A. M., & DeShon, R. P. (2002). The use of impression management tactics in structured interviews: A function of question type?. Journal of Applied Psychology, 87(6), 1200-1208. DOI: 10.1037/0021-9010.87.6.1200 google scholar
• Giacalone, R. A., & Rosenfeld, P. (Eds.). (1989). Impression management in the organization. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc. google scholar
• Gioaba, I., & Krings, F. (2017). Impression management in the job interview: An effective way of mitigating discrimination against older applicants? Frontiers in Psychology, 8, 770. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2017.00770 google scholar
• Goffman, E. (1959), The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life, Doubleday, Garden City, NY. google scholar
• Hammarberg, K., Kirkman, M., & de Lacey, S. (2016). Qualitative research methods: when to use them and how to judge them. Human Reproduction, 31(3), 498-501. https://doi.org/10.1093/humrep/dev334 google scholar
• Jones, E. E. (1964), Ingratiation, Appleton-Century-Crofts, New York, NY. google scholar
• Jones, E.E. and Pittman, T.S. (1982), “Toward a General Theory of Strategic Self-Presentation”, Suls, J. (Ed.), Psychological Perspectives on the Self, Vol. 1, Erlbaum, Hillsdale, pp. 231-262. google scholar
• Knouse, S. B., Giacalone, R. A., & Pollard, H. (1988). Impression management in the resume and its cover letter. Journal of Business and Psychology, 3(2), 242-249. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01014492 google scholar
• Leary, M. R., & Kowalski, R. M. (1990). Impression management: A literature review and two-component model. Psychological Bulletin, 107(1), 34-47. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.107.1.34 google scholar
• Long, D. M. (2016). A method to the martyrdom. Organizational Psychology Review, 7(1), 36-65. doi:10.1177/2041386616663816 google scholar
• Peck, J. A., & Levashina, J. (2017). Impression management and interview and job performance ratings: A meta-analysis of research design with tactics in mind. Frontiers in Psychology, 8, 201. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2017.00201. PMID: 28261135 google scholar
• Risavy, S. D. (2017). The resume research literature: where have we been and where should we go next. Journal of Educational and Developmental Psychology, 7(1), 169-187. DOI:10.5539/jedp.v7n1p169 google scholar
• Roulin, N., Bangerter, A., & Levashina, J. (2014). Interviewers’ perceptions of impression management in employment interviews. Journal of Managerial Psychology, 29(2), 141-163. https://doi.org/10.1108/JMP-10-2012-0295 google scholar
• Schlenker, B. R. (2003). Self-presentation. In M. R. Leary & J. P. Tangney (Eds.), Handbook of self and identity (pp. 492-518). The Guilford Press. google scholar
• Siibak, A. (2009). Constructing the Self through the Photo selection - Visual Impression Management on So-cial Networking Websites. Cyberpsychology: Journal of Psychosocial Research on Cyberspace, 3(1), article 1. http://cyberpsychology.eu/view.php?cisloclanku=2009061501&article=1 google scholar
• Stevens, C. K., & Kristof, A. L. (1995). Making the right impression: A field study of applicant impression management during job interviews. Journal of Applied Psychology, 80(5), 587-606. https://doi.org/10.1037/0021-9010.80.5.587 google scholar
• Swider, B. W., Barrick, M. R., Harris, T. B., & Stoverink, A. C. (2011). Managing and creating an image in the interview: The role of interviewee initial impressions. Journal of Applied Psychology, 96(6), 1275-1288. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0024005 google scholar
• Ozsozgun Caliskan, A. & Emel, E. (2018). Readability of Corporate Reports and Impression Management. PressAcademia Procedia, 7(1), 300-302. google scholar
• Van Iddekinge, C. H., McFarland, L. A., & Raymark, P. H. (2007). Antecedents of impression management use and effectiveness in a structured interview. Journal of Management, 33(5), 752-773. 752-773. DOI: 10.1177/0149206307305563 google scholar
• Varma, A., Min Toh, S., & Pichler, S. (2006). Ingratiation in job applications: Impact on selection decisions. Journal of managerial psychology, 21(3), 200-210. https://doi.org/10.1108/02683940610659551 google scholar
• Waung, M., McAuslan, P., DiMambro, J. M., & Miçgoc, N. (2017). Impression management use in resumes and cover letters. Journal of Business and Psychology, 32(6), 727-746.. DOI: 10.1007/s10869-016-9470-9 google scholar
• Wayne, S. J., & Kacmar, K. M. (1991). The effects of impression management on the performance appraisal process. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 48(1), 70-88. https://doi.org/10.1016/0749-5978(91)90006-F google scholar
• Wilhelmy, A., Roulin, N., & Wingate, T. G. (2021). Does it take two to tango? Examining how applicants and interviewers adapt their impression management to each other. Journal of Business and Psychology, 36, 1053-1076. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10869-020-09720-5 google scholar