Impression management research in social psychology has influenced I/O research in three areas:
(1) goal setting (2) feedback seeking behavior (3) selection interviews
(1) goal setting (2) feedback seeking behavior (3) selection interviews
Goal Setting
Huber, Latham, and Locke (1989) showed that employees can create positive impressions with their supervisors when they become engaged in goal setting strategies such as taking the initiative to set goals, setting challenging goals, showing commitment to goals through persistence and problem solving, and succeeding in attaining or approaching the goal. Furthermore, supervisors can create favorable impressions with employees by providing a rational for goal setting, serving as a role model by setting and attaining challenging goals, and by allowing employees to develop their own strategies to attain an assigned goal.
Feedback Seeking Behavior
Feedback seeking can affect a supervisor's impression of an employee. Ashford and Northcut (1992) found that employees tend to prefer nonsocial sources of feedback because the act of asking for feedback from one's peers and/or supervisors may give observers the impression that the person is incompetent or insecure about their performance. This finding suggests that feedback seekers are faced with a conflict between the need to obtain useful information to improve performance and the need to present a favorable image to others in the organization.
Selection Interviews
Impression management tactics commonly used in selection interviews include ingratiation, self-promotion, assertiveness, excuses, and information filtering. Researchers have examined factors that affect the use of these tactics as well as the effect of these tactics on actual interview outcomes. In a campus setting, Stevens and Kristoff (1995) found that applicants relied on assertive tactics (e.g., explaining how past goals were reached) to a greater extent than defensive tactics (e.g., making excuses when goals were not reached). Overall, the assertive impression management tactics had more of a positive effect on interviewers' ratings of the applicants.