Measuring Impression Management in Organizations: A Scale Development Based on the Jones and Pittman Taxonomy

Abstract

Five studies were conducted to develop a measure of employee impression management behaviors based on the taxonomy proposed by Jones and Pittman. In Study 1, 44 items were given to student judges to verify the content validity of the items. In Study 2, the scale was administered to a sample of professionals and exploratory factor analysis was conducted. Based on the results, revisions to the scale were made. In Study 3, the revised scale was administered to a group of managers and exploratory factor analysis was again performed. In Study 4, the final version of the scale was administered to another sample of professionals and confirmatory factor analysis was performed. Finally, in Study 5, the convergent and discriminant validity of the scale was assessed using a sample of management students. The results support the taxonomy presented by Jones and Pittman. Suggestions for future research using the new measure are discussed.

Proposing Instrument to Measure Impression Management among Flood Victims

“…The approach taken by researchers attempting to measure impression management has generally involved the use of one of the current impression management scales. Although each of the scales has its advantages, there are some limitations associated with their use [5].…”

“…Although interest in the area of impression management continues to grow, the lack of a measure that is both grounded in theory and well-suited for organizational use has slowed the progress in this area [5]. This occurs especially in the context of organizations that deal with flood management.…”

Impression Management Tactics Employed by Primary school Heads to Influence Management and Leadership Decisions in Schools: A Survey of Two Districts in Zimbabwe

“…Our choice of using Bolino and Turnley (1999)'s standardised instrument and a large sample of school heads from two different provinces of the country was a way of trying to enhance the reliability of findings of this study. Interview data were analysed thematically guided by the tactics presented in the questionnaire, and thus were fused in the analysis.…”

“…This study made use of the descriptive survey method and made use of a questionnaire and interviews to gather data to describe impression management behaviours of primary school heads in two provinces of Zimbabwe. Impression management tactics school heads use against teachers were measured by a scale adapted from Bolino and Turnley (1999), based on the classification system proposed by Jones and Pittman (1982). A total of 50 school heads randomly selected in Gwanda district of Matebeleland South province and Zvishavane district in the Midlands province in Zimbabwe participated in the study, with 10 of them responding also to interviews.…”

“…Table 1 below presents data from questionnaires distributed to 50 school heads. The table was adopted from Bolino and Turnley (1999) with minimal modification to fit school contexts. In the table, statements about each impression management tactic were grouped together for ease of analysis.…”