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

Abstract

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.

Identifying self-presentation components among nursing students with unsafe clinical practice: a qualitative study

“…In general, these findings are consistent with the results of studies conducted with medical students [29,38], or in other fields [28,[39][40][41]; These findings support that in situations where the student is being evaluated, it is possible that students may selectively show behaviors with the intent of managing the perception of others.…”

“…Dondolo and Chinyamurindi [28], found that people adjust how they portray themselves, their behaviors, and their attitudes during job interviews to convince panel members that they are well-suited for the relevant position and believe in the organization's values. Also, Patel et al [29], in their study conducted among surgical residents, concluded that to convince their professors and peers that they have sufficient competence, self-confidence, and assertiveness to meet their expectations, they used strategies such as making up stories, silence, and avoiding asking for help.…”

“…To our knowledge the concept of self-presentation and its possible role in unsafe clinical practice of nursing students has not been studied. As mentioned earlier, the concept of self-presentation as impression management has been studied among surgical residents in relation to job interviews [28], and in social media [29,30]; in these studies, the safety consequences of self-presentation are only briefly mentioned. It also seems that considering the possible explanatory value of self-presentation across many interpersonal interaction research areas, understanding the tendency of students who have unsafe behaviors to use different types of self-presentation behaviors may be a useful tool to further understand nursing students with unsafe clinical practice.…”

Exploring impression management tactics within the Afrikaans Coloured culture in a formal setting

“…Although IM is sometimes conceptualised as controlling or misled behaviour, researchers have argued that IM does not essentially reveal that employees are creating incorrect impressions or acting in an unfavourable manner (Bolino et al, 2016). Research by Dondolo and Chinyamurindi (2018) found that when an individual is going through a job interview, he/she may portray the perfect behaviour and attitudes for the panel to fit into the organisation's values, but display only this behaviour to obtain the panel's acceptance and trust. The individual convinces the panel through IM behaviours that he/she is suitable for the relevant position and situation.…”

“…Using IM behaviours appropriately in a unique situation is important, as it can be interpreted as inappropriate behaviour as perceived above (Bott & Spillius, 2014). The quality and decisions made by human resource (HR) personnel specifically when it comes to recruitment and selection are impacted by the IM behaviour that employees display (Dondolo & Chinyamurindi, 2018).…”