Does It Take Two to Tango? Examining How Applicants and Interviewers Adapt Their Impression Management to Each Other

Abstract

Although research has long examined applicants’ use of impression management (IM) behaviors in the interview, interviewers’ IM has only been recently investigated, and no research has attempted to combine both. The aim of this research was to examine whether and how applicants and interviewers adapt their IM to one another. To answer this question, we bring together IM, signaling theory, and the concept of adjacency pairs from linguistics, and carried out two studies. Study 1 was an observational study with field data (N = 30 interviews including a total of 6290 turns of speech by interviewers and applicants). Results showed that both applicants and interviewers are more likely to engage in IM in a way that can be considered as a “preferred” (vs. “dispreferred”) response pattern. That is, self-focused IM is particularly likely to occur as a response to other-focused IM, other-focused IM as a response to self-focused IM, and job/organization-focused IM as a response to job/organization-focused IM. In study 2, we used a within-subjects design to experimentally manipulate interviewer IM and examine its impact on (N = 120) applicants’ IM behaviors during the interview. Applicants who engaged more in “preferred” IM responses were evaluated as performing better in the interview by external raters. However, “preferred” IM responses were not associated with any other interview outcomes. Altogether, our findings highlight the adaptive nature of interpersonal influence in employment interviews, and call for more research examining the dynamic interactions between interviewers and applicants.

Seeing past different signals in the job interview: information improves ratings of candidates on the autism spectrum

“…Because of their social-communication differences, IotAS might be less apt to engage in the proactive self-promotional signaling interviewers expect (Bolino et al. , 2016) or to adapt the signals they send in response to the signals they receive from neurotypical interviewers (Wilhelmy et al. , 2021).…”

“…Some job candidates are less likely to send signals that would give them an edge over rival candidates (Bangerter et al, 2012). Because of their social-communication differences, IotAS might be less apt to engage in the proactive self-promotional signaling interviewers expect (Bolino et al, 2016) or to adapt the signals they send in response to the signals they receive from neurotypical interviewers (Wilhelmy et al, 2021). Instead, they may unintentionally send signals that contribute to neurotypical interviewers' negative appraisals of them.…”

Does media richness influence job applicants' experience in asynchronous video interviews? Examining social presence, impression management, anxiety, and performance

“…A crucial element in using IM effectively during the interview is to be attentive to the interviewers' verbal and nonverbal cues or feedback and to adapt one's behaviors or responses accordingly. This increases the likelihood of positive reactions from the interviewer, leading to higher performance ratings (Wilhelmy et al, 2021). Unfortunately, AVIs lack this opportunity for interviewees, but enhancing social presence may potentially address this limitation to some degree.…”

Who uses deceptive impression management to succeed at job interviews? The role of ethical ideologies and work locus of control

“…They portray their suitability to the person-job fit (Werbel and Gilliland, 1999) and choose their responses based on the stereotype of what an ideal candidate for the job should be. Candidates indulging in deceptive IM strategies preferred by the interviewer are rated as performing better in the interview (Wilhelmy et al, 2021). As the candidate becomes experienced in faking, they improve their ability and skills to fake in subsequent interviews.…”

“…Deceptive IM during job interviews can take the form of fabricating an image of high competence, intelligence and claim to a far superior skill-set than actually possessed by the job seekers who desire to portray a better impression of themselves (Wilhelmy et al, 2021). Applicants use this strategy to enhance their image and influence the selection decision.…”