Trick or trait? The combined effects of employee impression management modesty and trait modesty on supervisor evaluations

[Multimodal selection of medical students: The predictive power of individual process components in the two-stage selection process at Witten/Herdecke University (UW/H)]

OBJECTIVE

According to the legislator's ideas, the selection of medical students in Germany should no longer be based on the Abitur grade alone. This approach has already been implemented in the two-stage selection process at Witten/Herdecke University (UW/H) using several criteria. On the one hand, the present study aims to determine the prognostic value of the procedural components for the overall performance on the selection day. On the other hand, the different strategies of the applicants in processing the written task (phase 1) will be examined with regard to their application success.

METHODOLOGY

Data on applications for the summer semester 2020 (N = 819 phase 1; N = 233 phase 2) were available retrospectively. A stepwise regression analysis was conducted to determine the predictive power of each procedural component. Using a summary content analysis, the four essays from the applicants' motivation letters were structured and categories were identified, and an extreme group comparison (Group 1: Not invited; Group 2: University acceptance; N = 60 essays) was conducted.

RESULTS

As the stepwise regression analysis shows, the individual biographical interview emerged as the strongest predictor in terms of overall performance, followed by lecture, group interview, and multiple mini interviews. Content analysis extracted content and scaling categories for the individual essays, as well as an additional meta-category (Impression Management, IM). Successful applicants demonstrated, among other things, better judgment skills, more sophisticated reasoning skills, and an internalized role model as a physician. In addition, they used defensive IM strategies, e.g., subjectification and self-deprecation, more frequently.

CONCLUSION

Biographical interview is considered the strongest predictor of overall performance. The dimensions of impression management, reasoning quality and judgment proved to be reliable predictors of successful performance in the selection process. In addition, role image as a physician and professional commitment had a favorable effect on the selection decision.

A relational identity approach to study the antecedents of family supportive supervision

This research focuses on the antecedents of family supportive supervisor behaviors (FSSB) - the support from supervisors that can help employees manage their competing demands across work and nonwork domains. Drawing on theories of relational identity and self-construal, I conceptualize subordinates' likeability (interpersonal abilities) and competence (task abilities) as antecedents of family supportive supervisor behaviors, and examine whether supervisors' relational identification with subordinates mediates this relationship. In addition, I also examine the extent to which this mediation depends on the level of relational self-construal of supervisors. Data from 205 subordinates and 84 supervisors from a Chilean private bank and results support the hypothesized mediated moderation model. While supervisors' relational identification with subordinates fully mediates the relationship between competence and family supportive supervisor behaviors, supervisors' relational identification with subordinates partially mediates the relationship between subordinates' likeability and family supportive supervisor behaviors. Further, supervisors' relational identification with subordinates mediates the relationship between likeability and family supportive supervisor behaviors when supervisors' relational self-construal is high to medium but not when it is low. Overall, this research offers a novel lens for better understanding subordinates as more than mere recipients of supervisory behaviors.

Similar or Different Effects? Quantifying the Effects of Humility and Modesty on Job Performance

Humility and modesty are both emphasized in Eastern and Western societies. However, people usually conflate them in everyday usage. To reduce the confusion of the two constructs, it is very vital to carefully differentiate the two constructs and examine whether they lead to similar or different effects on job performance. In this study, we scrutinized the effects of the two constructs on four dimensions of job performance simultaneously, including task performance, citizenship behavior (helping and voicing), unethical pro-organizational behavior, and innovative behavior. Using a dataset of 239 employees and 77 supervisors, we showed that modesty is not related to task performance and voicing, but that it is positively related to unethical pro-organizational behavior and negatively related to helping and innovative behavior. In contrast, we showed that humility is negatively related to unethical pro-organizational behavior and positively related to task performance, helping, voicing, and innovative behavior. Our findings reveal that modesty and humility can lead to very divergent work outcomes. The results strongly support the idea that modesty and humility are distinct constructs embedded in separate nomological networks and strongly suggest that organizations should encourage employees’ humility rather than modesty. The theoretical and practical implications of this work are discussed.

Maybe It Is Who You Know: Social Networks and Leader–Member Exchange Differentiation

Existing literature on leader–member exchange differentiation (LMXD) offers a meaningful view into the multilevel outcomes associated with leader follower relationships. However, despite the rapid growth of literature on LMXD, scholars lack a complete understanding of its antecedents or the processes that cause leaders to differentiate among team members. We address this issue by using social capital theory to propose that leaders perceive their followers’ social networks as potential resources to grow their own social capital. Because each follower has unique social networks, we propose that leaders differentiate LMX among followers depending on which followers provide them with access to the most social resources. In this conceptual paper, we posit that as leaders gain information about their followers’ social networks, they attribute status to each follower depending on their perception of that follower’s social capital. We then propose that key contingencies, such as a team’s psychological safety climate or a leader’s ambition, influence the relationship between social network characteristics and LMXD. Overall, our model provides a unique multilevel perspective of LMXD and provides important insights for both researchers and practitioners alike.

Being Out of the Loop: Workplace Deviance as a Mediator of the Impact of Impression Management on Workplace Exclusion

This study investigates the extending negative effects of impression management (IM) on organizational outcomes in the nursing context. Specifically, this study aims to understand the impact of IM on workplace exclusion through workplace deviance. The data came from 277 head nurses (nurses in leadership positions) in elderly care homes in Belgium. Structured paper-and-pencil questionnaires were administered on site in the respondents’ workplaces. In the findings of the current research, IM is positively related to workplace exclusion and the relationship is mediated by workplace deviance. Although, initially, IM is performed by the actors as a natural behavior to maintain their image, at some point, the actors can become fatigued with maintaining their image. Under ego depletion theory, the exhausted IM actors will be highly experienced in deviance or bad performance. Furthermore, consistent with social information processing theory and a correlation study between employees’ poor performance and workplace exclusion, the IM actors who fail to deliver good performance or behavior following their like-based rewards may be subject to social exclusion in their workplace.

Roles of the MPFC and insula in impression management under social observation

People often engage in impression management by presenting themselves and others as socially desirable. However, specific behavioral manifestations and underlying neural mechanisms of impression management remain unknown. In this study, we investigated the neural mechanism of impression management during self- and friend-evaluation. Only participants assigned to the observation (OBS) group, not the control (CON) group, were informed that their responses would be monitored. They answered how well positive and negative trait adjectives described themselves or their friends. The behavioral results showed that the OBS group was more likely to reject negative traits for self-evaluation and to accept positive traits for friend-evaluation. An independent study revealed that demoting negative traits for oneself and promoting positive traits for a friend helps manage one’s impression. In parallel with the behavioral results, in the OBS vs the CON group, the rostromedial prefrontal cortex (rmPFC) and anterior insula (AI) activity showed a greater increase as the negativity of negatively valenced adjectives increased during self-evaluation and also showed a greater increase as the positivity of positively valenced adjectives increased during friend-evaluation. The present study suggests that rmPFC and AI are critically involved in impression management, promoting socially desirable target evaluations under social observation.

(How) Will I Socialize You? The Impact of Supervisor Initial Evaluations and Subsequent Support on the Socialization of Temporary Newcomers

This study proposes and tests a new theoretical model explaining whether, and how, supervisors socialize “temporary newcomers,” defined as new organizational members who join an organization on a temporary basis, with a potential, but uncertain, opportunity of receiving a long-term job offer in the future. We suggest that under specific conditions, supervisors first evaluate temporary newcomers’ proactivity based on whether they positively stand out by proposing new feasible ideas and by promoting their achievements. On the basis of these initial evaluations, supervisors then decide whether to increase their support of newcomers’ creativity (using an investiture approach) or to intensify newcomers’ socialization by attempting to change their behavior (using a divestiture approach). When supervisors adopt an investiture approach, it positively influences temporary newcomers’ socialization adjustment outcomes, as indicated by increased newcomer job satisfaction, social integration, task performance, organizational and task socialization, challenge stress, and reduced hindrance stress. When supervisors instead adopt a divestiture approach, it has an opposite (thus negative) effect on the same socialization outcomes. We tested our theoretical model using a mix-method design, based on a three-wave longitudinal sample of 325 newcomer–supervisor dyads spanning a wide range of companies and industries, complemented with interviews of 41 supervisors.

Development and Validation of the Chinese Modesty Scale (CMS)

This paper describes the development and method of validation of the Chinese Modesty Scale (CMS). Based on Wang's dualistic model for value and instrumental modesty, our study employed a review of the literature, in-depth interviews, open-ended investigations, and feedback from experts. An initial 14-item scale for analyzing the issue of "Chinese modesty" was developed. Then we explored the dimensions and final items of this CMS using item analysis and exploratory factor analysis (EFA) with sample 1 (n = 406). After that, we conducted a confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) to replicate the factor structure obtained through EFA with a refined, independent, 12-item scale (n = 662). Results confirmed the dualistic model (for value and instrumental modesty) on which this scale was based. That is, we found that there are two kinds of "Chinese modesty": value modesty and instrumental modesty. As a valid, reliable scale, the CMS can therefore be used to measure the "Chinese modesty" of/in different age groups.

Impression management within the recruitment interview: Narratives of employees at a South African higher education institution

Orientation: Job interviews remain a popular platform on which organisations source talent. Interviewees seek to make an impression in interviews to influence the decision to be hired.Research purpose: The study explores why and how impression management manifests within the recruitment interview setting.Motivation for the study: Calls exist within the local and international literature for studies that explore the concept of impression management further as a basis to improve activities such as recruitment and selection.Research approach, design/method: An interpretivist research paradigm using the qualitative approach and the exploratory research design was utilised. In-depth interviews with 20 employees at a South African higher education institution were conducted. Narrative analysis formed the basis of the data analysis by adopting the three levels of the meaning-making approach used in previous studies.Main findings: Two major narratives emerged. Firstly, when exploring why impression management occurs in the recruitment interview, the strategising behaviour was identified. Secondly, when exploring how impression management occurs in the recruitment interview, the switching behaviour was identified.Practical/managerial implications: The study provides information that organisational strategists and recruiters can use to enhance not only the recruitment process but also the decisions informed by such processes.Contribution/value-add: This study contributes to the growing body of knowledge in an area of study that has received scant empirical focus locally and internationally. This can be a catalyst for future research on impression management.