Search

Workplace ostracism is a prevalent and painful experience. The majority of studies focus on negative outcomes of ostracism, with less work examining employees' potential adaptive responses to it. Further, scholars have suggested that such responses depend on employee attributions, yet little research has taken an attributional perspective on workplace ostracism. Drawing on sociometer theory and attribution theory we develop and test a model that investigates why and under what circumstances ostracized employees engage in adaptive responses to ostracism. Specifically, we argue that ostracized employees feel greater levels of shame and, in turn, are motivated to engage in greater ingratiation behavior toward their ostracizers. However, we predict that perceptions of ostracizers' competence and warmth shape different attributional processes, which influence the degree to which the ostracized employee experience shame and, in turn, is motivated to engage in ingratiation behavior. Results of a three-wave, time-lagged survey support our prediction that shame mediates the relationship between coworker ostracism and ingratiation behavior. Moreover, results support our three-way interaction, such that coworkers who report higher levels of ostracism and who perceive their coworkers as more (vs. less) competent and more (vs. less) warm report higher shame, and, in turn, ingratiation behavior. Theoretical and practical implications, as well as avenues for future research, are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines strategies employed by university administrators and managers to gain compliance from subordinates even as they attempted to increase their workload. These strategies have received comparatively little attention within organizational studies of compliance. The participants in our study included employees at a public university in the Midwest identifying themselves as either "staff/faculty" or "managers/administrators." Our findings indicate that when administrators and managers are unable to use formal rewards and punishments they attempt to gain compliance from subordinates through two main strategies that we identify as overtures and interactional trebuchet. Both strategies represent a sequence of interaction that we refer to more generally as "boundary work"—a set of activities through which boundaries on time, resources, and workload are defended or diminished, and for which we provide a model. We draw upon organizational, symbolic interactionist, and dramaturgical theories in the analysis of our data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite research having identified two major routes to status: dominance and competence, both routes seem inadequate to capture the "whole picture" of how people get ahead in organizations. Building on social exchange theory and social status literature, we identify two novel paths and their important boundary conditions by which employees with status motivation can achieve status. Specifically, we propose that employees with status motivation obtain status (operationalized as other-perceived status and promotability) by engaging in ingratiation toward their supervisors and organizational citizenship behavior directed toward individuals. In addition, these relationships are weakened in teams where the procedural justice climate is high. Results from four studies conducted in China and the United States, which consist of three experiments (Study 1: N = 240; Study 2: N = 180; Study 4: N = 309) and one field study of 427 employees from 74 teams (Study 3), provide support for most of the propositions we proposed. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explored and described the experiences of ingratiation of middle children in the family. The findings of the study gained insights from the six residents of Koronadal City who grew up being a middle child in the family. This study utilized qualitative descriptive research design exploring the experiences of the participant. The researchers sought to describe the experiences of ingratiation of middle children in the family as young professionals. Thematic analysis, coding, and categorization of the transcript from the semi-structured interview conducted by the researchers were administered. The result showed that middle children have developed a sense of self-reliance upon themselves instead of being dependent to family support. The thing self-reliance found to be the stepping stone of what they have become today. Furthermore, it was shown in the result that middle children have an innate nature of striving because of their driving force, regardless of their upbringing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bo Yang, Chaoyue Zhao, Yao Zhu, Xianchun Li School of Psychology and Cognitive Science, East China Normal University, Shanghai, People’s Republic of ChinaCorrespondence: Bo Yang, School of Psychology and Cognitive Science, East China Normal University, Shanghai, People’s Republic of China, Email 52163200021@stu.ecnu.edu.cnPurpose: Numerous empirical studies consistently support the detrimental impact of job insecurity (JI) on employees. However, a new perspective suggests that individuals perceiving JI may proactively take measures to protect their positions. Drawing from the conservation of resources theory, this study argues that perceived resource loss due to JI motivates employees to engage in ingratiating behaviors for expanding their social capital. Additionally, this study empirically establishes the mediating role of emotional exhaustion and the moderating effect of power distance.Methods: A daily diary design was used to examine the relationship between daily JI and next-day ingratiation. Our analyses of data collected from 134 full‐time employees across 10 consecutive working days using multi-level model.Results: Our results showed that daily JI was found to affect next-day ingratiation (γ = 0.14, p < 0.01), and this relationship was mediated by emotional exhaustion (indirect effect = 0.07, p < 0.05, 95% CI [0.01, 0.13]). Power distance moderated the relationship between emotional exhaustion and ingratiation (γ = 0.25, p < 0.001), and further moderated the indirect effect of JI on ingratiation via emotional exhaustion.Conclusion: Our study has revealed that JI serves as a catalyst for employees to engage in resource creation behavior, thereby contributing to a deeper understanding of the implications of JI as an independent variable for both scholars and businesses.Keywords: job insecurity, emotional exhaustion, power distance, ingratiation

The primary objective of this study was to investigate the impact of impression management tactics--specifically ingratiation, intimidation, self-promotion, and exemplification--on faculty job performance within the context of a private university. The cybernetic theory, Social Role theory and Social Influence theory served as the theoretical underpinning for the study. The study employed purposive-cum-snowball sampling techniques to gather primary data from 120 faculty members of 2 private sector universities i-e., Sarhad University of Science and IT and Iqra National University, Peshawar, using an adaptive questionnaire. Regression analysis was then conducted to examine the hypothesized relationships between impression management tactics and job performance. The findings revealed significant effects of ingratiation, self-promotion, and exemplification on faculty job performance. However, contrary to expectations, exemplification exhibited a negative impact, while intimidation tactics were found to detrimentally affect employee job performance. Supplication tactics were excluded due to their multifaceted nature. The study's findings have significant implications for both organizational practice and scholarly research. Understanding the differential impacts of impression management tactics can inform organizational strategies aimed at enhancing faculty performance and fostering a supportive work environment. Moreover, the study highlights the need for further research to explore the underlying mechanisms and boundary conditions of impression management tactics in academic settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Studies have shown that narcissistic individuals are keen to pursue higher levels of status. However, little research has explored how and when narcissistic leaders take corresponding actions to improve their workplace status. Focusing on supervisor-subordinate interaction scenarios, this study explores how narcissistic leaders pursue workplace status through self-promotion and derogating others, based on social comparison theory. The results of a three-wave two-source survey consisting of 327 supervisor–subordinate pairs reveal that narcissistic leaders tend to perform the behaviors of self-promotion and derogating others in front of their subordinates, and ultimately promote their workplace status. Meanwhile, subordinate ingratiation strengthens the indirect relationship of leader narcissism with workplace status via self-promotion and derogating others. All hypotheses are supported by our findings. Theoretical contributions, practical implications, limitations and future directions are offered in this research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AbstractDigital objects, such as graphicons, have been increasingly used to facilitate communication across social media (SM) networks among young adults. This study investigates the usage of stickers, a type of graphicon, by young adults on WhatsApp from the perspective of the extended self. Self-administered online survey was used to collect data from WhatsApp users aged 18–35 years living in India, and Partial Least Square Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) was applied to analyze the data. Drawing from the theories of impression management (IM) and the extended self, the results indicate that sticker usage on WhatsApp may lead to the formation of an extended self, and this relationship may be mediated by self-promotion and ingratiation. Statistically significant results were obtained based on participant responses in this study, and that construct validity and reliability of the model generated were confirmed. The study contributes to the emerging literature on stickers and extends our understanding of IM and the formation of extended self during WhatsApp communication among young adults. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The research investigates the effects of chatbot-delivered verbal (inspirational appeals) and non-verbal (ingratiation) cues on customers' purchase intentions on social commerce pages (study one). The research using a multi-method approach also investigates the role of social presence and ulterior motives in explaining the effects of the chatbot-delivered human-like cues on customers' purchase intentions (study two). Study one employs an experiment, followed by a structural equation model in study two. The results of study two enable the researchers to triangulate the results of study one and to understand the underlying causes of those results. The data was collected through an online experiment and an online survey for the two studies. The research reports that: (1) inspirational appeals delivered by chatbots positively influence purchase intentions; (2) ingratiation delivered using double-tap by chatbots does not significantly affect purchase intentions. The current research represents one of the first attempts to explore the influence of inspirational appeal and ingratiation delivered through chatbots on s-commerce purchase intentions. The findings of the study provide managerial insights to social commerce pages that could help engage customers and circumvent the attribution of ulterior motives while making a sale. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are identified with their CEOs in the subcontinent. We propose that CEOs, in the pursuit of managing their impressions, usually become narcissistic. This study investigates whether a CEO managing his impression becomes narcissistic and negatively impacts organizational performance. A narcissistic CEO usually greets ingratiation towards himself, which makes the situation even worse. In other words, subordinates' ingratiation towards CEOs plays a moderating role between (i) impression management and organizational performance, (ii) impression management and narcissism, and (iii) narcissism and organizational performance. Hypotheses were tested through a moderated mediation model as data was collected from CEOs of 239 prominent SMEs operating in 23 clusters in Pakistan. Results affirmed that impression management leads to narcissism amongst CEOs, where ingratiation was reported to play a moderating role. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this field experiment was to examine whether food servers who used other-enhancement, opinion conformity, or humor would be rewarded with higher tips from restaurant customers than food servers who did not use such ingratiation tactics. Consistent with predictions, humor and simple opinion conformity resulted in significantly higher tip percentages compared to the control condition. In contrast, other-enhancement (i.e., compliments) and exaggerated opinion conformity did not. Humor also resulted in higher tips than all other tactics, except simple opinion conformity. These results and their implications are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Informed by social resources theory, we provide an explanation for how political skill enables employees' access to social resources, notably expressive network resources and developmental feedback granted by supervisors, thereby enhancing their potential for career growth. Employees can further leverage the attained resources to maximize their chances for career growth by exercising ingratiation toward their supervisors. Data from 399 independently matched subordinate-supervisor dyads in Japan partially support our predictions. While supervisor-focused expressive network resources and supervisor developmental feedback account for mediating mechanisms through which political skill could predict career growth potential, the use of ingratiation to further leverage these social resources is rather deemed insignificant. Theoretical and practical implications of the findings are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Why do people who seem to be doing well in the workplace occasionally behave badly? Because these employees may be using impression management tactics to create an image. Existing studies have focused on comparing the differences in the use of impression management among different individuals, but cannot explain why a well-behaved individual sometimes behaves badly. Based on the theory of self-control resources, we adopts the survey method of job logs and collects the data of 121 employees. The results show that: (1) the use of self-promotion tactics and ingratiation tactics will promote the depletion of self-control resources. (2) The depletion of self-control resources will encourage employees to engage in counterproductive work behaviors. (3) The effect of self-promotion tactic and ingratiation tactic on the depletion of self-control resources was moderated by emotional intelligence. In the case of high emotional intelligence, this effect is attenuated. And vice versa. (4) Under high emotional intelligence and low emotional intelligence, the indirect effects of self-promotion tactic and ingratiation tactic on employees’ counterproductive work behaviors are significantly different. Our research breaks through the between-individual perspective and illustrates the double-edged sword effect of self-promotion tactic and ingratiation tactic on employee counterproductive work behavior and its mechanism from the internal perspective, which is highly innovative.

Previous researches have emphasized the value of leader narcissism on employees’ career success, whereas we still know little about how and when this relationship will materialize. By integrating dramaturgical theory and leader narcissism literatures, we propose a theoretical model to explain the mechanism and boundary of leader narcissism in promoting employees’ objective career success (e.g., salary increases and promotions). To test our hypotheses, we carried out a multi-wave research design and collected data from 299 employees in Chinese manufacturing firms. The results of multiple regression analysis showed that leader narcissism motivates employees’ ingratiation, which in turn facilitates employees’ objective career success, especially when those employees are high in careerist orientation. Theoretical and practical implications of the findings are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

High-power people frequently receive compliments from subordinates, yet little is known about how high-power people respond to praise. The current research addresses this gap in the empirical literature by testing the primary hypothesis that high-power people discount others’ praise more than equal- and low-power people. Secondary hypotheses also tested whether high-power people’s tendency to discount positive feedback would paradoxically heighten negative perceptions of others. Evidence from two experiments (one preregistered) reveals that high-power participants discounted feedback from others more than low- and equal-power participants. However, high-power people’s tendency to discount feedback only produced negative partner perceptions when positive feedback, but not neutral feedback, was discounted. These results suggest that compliments may sometimes backfire and lead high-power people to discount praise and form negative impressions of subordinates.

High-power people frequently receive compliments from subordinates, yet little is known about how high-power people respond to praise. The current research addresses this gap in the empirical literature by testing the primary hypothesis that high-power people discount others’ praise more than equal- and low-power people. Secondary hypotheses also tested whether high-power people’s tendency to discount positive feedback would paradoxically heighten negative perceptions of others. Evidence from two experiments (one preregistered) reveals that high-power participants discounted feedback from others more than low- and equal-power participants. However, high-power people’s tendency to discount feedback only produced negative partner perceptions when positive feedback, but not neutral feedback, was discounted. These results suggest that compliments may sometimes backfire and lead high-power people to discount praise and form negative impressions of subordinates.

Using survey data from CEOs and other top managers at large and mid-sized public companies in the U.S., as well as from journalists, we explore how ingratiation, a fundamental means of building and maintaining one’s social capital, may trigger behavior that damages the social capital of the person being ingratiated. Although ingratiation, such as flattery or opinion conformity, may elicit positive affect from its target, we suggest it can also elicit a specific form of negative affect toward the target, which in turn can trigger interpersonal harm-doing. Focusing on ingratiation by top managers toward the CEO, we find that ingratiating managers are likely to develop feelings of resentment toward the CEO and that ingratiation may be especially likely to elicit resentment among top managers when the CEO is a racial minority or a woman. We also find that negative affect from ingratiation can induce interpersonal behavior that has the potential to damage the social capital of the influence target, as feelings of resentment that result from ingratiatory behavior can trigger social undermining of the CEO in the manager’s communications with journalists. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The perception of organizational politics seriously affects working people, and it is an unavoidable detrimental aspect of an organization. Prior studies are focused on the detrimental consequences of perceived organizational politics and not paid attention to its remedial actions. Therefore, proper intervention as a corrective action for the harmful effect of organizational politics perception was essential. Hence, this study was motivated to know: (a) the effect of the perception of organizational politics on employees’ performance, and (b) the mitigating role of impression management (self-promotion and ingratiation) for the detrimental effect of perception of organizational politics on work performance. Perceptual cross-sectional data was taken from 725 employees working in Nepalese banks. Quantitative data analysis revealed that perception of organizational politics has a detrimental impact on employee performance; impression management (self-promotion and ingratiation) worked as an antidote for such effects. The study’s unique findings were a different form of association of perception of organizational politics with work performance under the different situations of impression management (self-promotion and ingratiation). Moreover, those employees were less suffered from the perceived organizational politics who were good in impression management (self-promotion and ingratiation). Impression management (self-promotion and ingratiation) is controlled, as an antidote, comparatively more effectively for the high poli-tics perceiver than the low perceiver. Numbers of theoretical and practical implications are suggested to cure perceived organizational politics’ detrimental outcomes on employee performance. AcknowledgmentThis article is a part of the PhD research work that was funded by the University Grants Commission of Nepal (award number: PhD/73-74/Mgmt/04).

This paper is the third of a triptych of papers. The word 'triptych' refers to traditional religious paintings, where three panels are joined with hinges. Each of the three papers in this triptych outlines certain aspects of my patient Sam's fourteen year psychotherapy. When these papers are read together, they provide a detailed exploration of the most noteworthy changes I have observed in Sam over the fourteen years of our therapeutic relationship. This third and final part deals with the way that Sam's defensive structures have developed and shifted over fourteen years. It integrates material from all three papers, and makes a foray into theorising about some possible aetiological sources of ASD, emphasising psychodynamic aspects. Taken together, the three papers are my effort to map out the important psychodynamic changes in Sam's functioning across fourteen years of treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study we examined the mediating role of interpersonal deviance and moderating effects of ingratiation between workplace ostracism and psychological distress, based on transactional theory of stress and coping. Cross sectional survey design was used and data was collected from 202 academicians from all universities of Quetta. Workplace ostracism threatens employee's interpersonal needs and self-efficacy. Employees try to cope with this approach and avoid indulging in psychological distress, through influence behavior ingratiation. This relationship was investigated by applying Hays PROCESS and used SPSS to analyze direct and indirect effects of moderated mediation model. Our results shows that workplace ostracism interpersonal deviance and ingratiation contributes to the prevalence of psychological distress and offer direct and collateral appliance. One path involves actions that dispirit ostracism by influential behavior, another step measures related to interpersonal deviance anticipated by mentoring and employee's support plans. The current research clarifies the underlying influential, intellectual and emotive mechanism between workplace ostracism and psychological distress. It extends research on interpersonal deviance and ingratiation to explain its theoretic as well as experiential effects on psychological distress. It additionally demonstrates how employees adopt ingratiation to turn down negative outcomes of workplace ostracism. Lastly, it explains the whole mechanism in context of collectivistic philosophy of Pakistan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ingratiation is an impression management strategy whereby actors try to curry favor with targets, and is one of the more pervasive social activities in a workplace. An assumption in the literature is that a target's awareness of the tactical purposes behind ingratiation (e.g., "he merely wants a raise") is an ethical concern which triggers suspicions of ulterior motives and casts the actor as distrustful. However, this assumption fails to consider alternative explanations in that ingratiation may also be perceived as occurring for authentic purposes (e.g., "he really wants to be liked"). This alternative view may cause targets to cast the actor differently, and thus presents an intriguing ethical paradox where actors could be recognized by targets as trustful, distrustful, or some level in-between. This research draws on behavioral ethics and attributional models to investigate supervisor trust of employees who engage in ingratiation. We report two studies that examine perceived tactical ingratiation, perceived authentic ingratiation, and their interaction as predictors of supervisor trust using multisource data from two field samples. Across the two studies, we find positive interactions between tactical and authentic ingratiation as predictors of trust and trustworthiness. Study 2 also shows that combined tactical and authentic ingratiation predicts the trustworthiness dimensions of benevolence and integrity, but not ability. The results suggest that ingratiation is portrayed somewhat bleaker than necessary in the literature, and that when actors engage in tactical ingratiation that is also deemed authentic, targets respond with less concern than the literature would suggest. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The aim of this study is to examine the influence of workplace ostracism on deviant behaviour and testified the mediating roles of organisational identification, burnout and organisation-based self-esteem (OBSE) by using a parallel mediation model. Then, the moderating role of ingratiation in the interrelation between ostracism, the mediators and deviant behaviour is examined. Design/methodology/approach: A survey questionnaire was used to collect data from nurses working in public sector hospitals in Pakistan. Nursing context is appropriate for the study because this occupation involves a greater extent of social interaction among peer nurses, doctors and administration in the provision of health services. A total of 417 nurses provided complete responses, and the study hypotheses were tested using the partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM). Findings: The study findings show that ostracism is positively related to deviant behaviour of nurses, indicating that workplace ostracism is an important predictor of deviant behaviour. Ostracised nurses experienced higher job burnouts and low OBSE as well as organisational identification. Results also show that ostracism promotes deviant behaviour by reducing OBSE and organisational identification. Moreover, results provide evidence that high ingratiation overcomes the detrimental effects of ostracism on both deviant behaviour and mediators. Originality/value: The present study integrates the literature on ostracism and its attitudinal and behavioural outcomes and submits that ostracism negatively affects the attitudes of victims which in turn results in negative behavioural outcomes (i.e. deviant behaviour). This study also suggests ingratiation as a tactic to control the negative effects of ostracism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ingratiation is regarded as a powerful impression tactic that helps ingratiator achieve their intended goals. Although there is evidence that the consequences of ingratiation are not always positive, little research considers the dark effect of ingratiation on the ingratiator. Based on conservation of resources theory, we develop and test a model that links employees’ ingratiation to their counterproductive work behaviors. Data were collected from 216 supervisor-employee dyads. The results of examination with Mplus showed that ingratiation had a positive effect on counterproductive work behaviors, and emotional exhaustion played a mediating role in this relationship. Power distance orientation negatively moderated the relationship between ingratiation and emotional exhaustion and the indirect effect of emotional exhaustion on the relationship between ingratiation and counterproductive work behaviors. Our findings raise attention on the consequences of ingratiation for employees and the dark side of ingratiation for organization.

The purpose of this paper is to explain the unique role of organizational cynicism, cronyism and ingratiation by delving into knowledge from different theories and models. To understand cynicism, cronyism and ingratiation is tricky as it seems to be tangled and fragmented in all disciplines. The aim of this study was to introduce a new model for management researchers. In this study the researcher has discussed organizational cronyism, cynicism and ingratiation between employee and managers. Cronyism means favoritism given by a superior to a subordinate. Ingratiation means impression management, and different tactics used by members to get the favour of superiors, and cynicism means the negative attitude of individuals towards organizations. In-group members enjoys benefits from managers while outgroup members do not get the same treatment in the workplace. In this paper the researcher has discussed antecedents of organizational cronyism, cynicism and ingratiation along with consequences thereof. An extensive literature review was conducted to stimulate pertinent descriptive information on organizational cronyism, cynicism and ingratiation. Major focus was given to in-depth understanding of attribute and consequencies of these negative attitudes. Publications in the form of theses, articles, review papers were used for extensive review of literature. A new holistic model has been introduced in this paper for future researchers. This model needs empirical testing and will possibly open new doors of research in organizational settings. Management of organizations can take advantage of the study by reducing organizational cronyism, cynicism and also focus on the employees who are involved in ingratiation i.e. impression management. Future researchers may use this model in their academic theses for possible new theoretical additions in their studies.

Ingratiation is regarded as a powerful impression tactic that helps ingratiator achieve their intended goals. Although there is evidence that the consequences of ingratiation are not always positive, little research considers the dark effect of ingratiation on the ingratiator. Based on conservation of resources theory, we develop and test a model that links employees' ingratiation to their counterproductive work behaviors. Data were collected from 216 supervisor-employee dyads. The results of examination with Mplus showed that ingratiation had a positive effect on counterproductive work behaviors, and emotional exhaustion played a mediating role in this relationship. Power distance orientation negatively moderated the relationship between ingratiation and emotional exhaustion and the indirect effect of emotional exhaustion on the relationship between ingratiation and counterproductive work behaviors. Our findings raise attention on the consequences of ingratiation for employees and the dark side of ingratiation for organization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We study within one theoretical framework two related phenomena - ingratiation by subordinates and favoritism of superiors towards their employees.We express ingratiation by opinion conformity of the worker when reporting his opinion to the manager. Favoritism of the manager is inferred from a bias when reporting to a firm her observation of the worker's performance. We show interdependences of favoritism and ingratiation by investigating their influence on wages and profit. We study the more sophisticated manager and firm that try to infer the worker's opinion and the manager's observation. Such higher degrees of sophistication can mitigate the consequences of ingratiation and favoritism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study investigates the relatively less explored construct organizational cronyism as an antecedent of employees’ ingratiation. Moreover, the role of the relational psychological contract as a mediator between organizational cronyism and ingratiation is also examined. The data were collected from employees working in different ministerial offices, such as the ministry of defense production, human rights, parliamentary affairs, petroleum, and natural resources, in Islamabad, Pakistan. Through a convenience sampling approach, 250 employees provided data for this study. Due to sensitivity and less approachability to these organizations, the convenience sampling technique was used. The data were collected in two waves with 12-week intervals. The results confirm that organizational cronyism is significantly related to the relational psychological contract, which in turn results in employees’ ingratiation. The employees who have close ties with their leaders and enjoy extraordinary favors from their leaders, display more compliance behavior as compared to those employees who have distance from their leaders.

The present study focuses on the dark side of impression management (IM) and proposes that IM tactics (ingratiation, exemplification, and their interaction) positively affect workload through the mechanism of compulsory citizenship behavior (CCB). We tested our hypotheses with data from 298 employees in China. Results revealed that ingratiation, exemplification, and their interaction, were positively related to workload, and CCB played a mediating role in all these relationships. We discussed the theoretical and practical implications of this study.

To date, gratitude has been discussed as a positive construct that is linked to various prosocial outcomes, including helping behaviours and altruism, as well as intrapersonal and interpersonal gains such as life satisfaction and social bonds. The emphasis on gratitude as positive has created a dearth of research examining its potential shadow side. This current paper attempts to explore gratitude in a more critical light in order to question whether gratitude always functions in a prosocial manner. First, the theoretical relationship between gratitude, ingratiation and impression management behaviours are explored with reference to social intelligence (SI) and self-monitoring as key constructs that might underlie gratitude's shadow side. This argument outlines that the apparent prosocial nature of gratitude might, sometimes, mask manipulative and self-serving goals. Preliminary empirical evidence of the relationship between gratitude, SI and self-monitoring is then provided. In Study 1, three-hundred-and-eleven participants completed self-report measures on gratitude, self-monitoring and social intelligence. The results demonstrate small-to-medium and significant correlational links between these constructs. Study 2 explored whether practicing gratitude can lead to changes in impression management skills, specifically social intelligence, through the design and delivery of a gratitude versus pride intervention. This small scale intervention (N = 36) provides the first preliminary evidence that practicing gratitude can function to increase participants' levels of social intelligence. The possible prosocial and manipulative functions of this relationship are discussed alongside suggestions for future research avenues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study focuses on the dark side of impression management (IM) and proposes that IM tactics (ingratiation, exemplification, and their interaction) positively affect workload through the mechanism of compulsory citizenship behavior (CCB). We tested our hypotheses with data from 298 employees in China. Results revealed that ingratiation, exemplification, and their interaction, were positively related to workload, and CCB played a mediating role in all these relationships. We discussed the theoretical and practical implications of this study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study investigates the relatively less explored construct organizational cronyism as an antecedent of employees' ingratiation. Moreover, the role of the relational psychological contract as a mediator between organizational cronyism and ingratiation is also examined. The data were collected from employees working in different ministerial offices, such as the ministry of defense production, human rights, parliamentary affairs, petroleum, and natural resources, in Islamabad, Pakistan. Through a convenience sampling approach, 250 employees provided data for this study. Due to sensitivity and less approachability to these organizations, the convenience sampling technique was used. The data were collected in two waves with 12-week intervals. The results confirm that organizational cronyism is significantly related to the relational psychological contract, which in turn results in employees' ingratiation. The employees who have close ties with their leaders and enjoy extraordinary favors from their leaders, display more compliance behavior as compared to those employees who have distance from their leaders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dependence on a partner facilitates various types of relationship maintenance effort. In this paper, we report on two experiments in which the level of dependence was manipulated. Study 1 tested whether dependence promotes other enhancement (a form of ingratiation, whereby the likeability of the partner is positively distorted). Study 2 tested whether dependence amplifies a sense of guilt after inadvertently committing a mild form of transgression against the partner, and whether amplified guilt facilitates self-punishment. In both experiments, dependence was manipulated in a conceptually similar manner: Participants' experimental rewards were partially determined by their partner's decision. Dependence promoted other enhancement (Study 1) but did not amplify guilt, and failed to promote self-punishment (Study 2). Possible reasons for the contradictory findings of the two studies are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of this research is to determine the type of impression management applied by lecturers in Management Department, Faculty of Economics and Business, Brawijaya University. The steps taken by the researcher to meet the research objective are interviewing the lecturers and grouping and analyzing the interview results to identify the type of impression management being used, and to identify its implementation to the students. This research uses descriptive method, which, according to Sugiyono (2013), is defined as a method of data analysis by describing the collected data as it is without the intention of making conclusions that apply publicly or generally. The primary data of this research were obtained from interviews, and the secondary data were obtained from the internet, books, journals, previous researches, and other sources. The result of this research suggests that a lecturer with master's degree is more dominant in ingratiation tactics, and a lecturer with PhD degrees is more dominant in exemplification tactics. In addition, male lecturers are more dominant in ingratiation tactics, and female lecturers are more dominant in ingratiation and intimidation tactics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Given that flattery is a form of impression management and a persuasive tool in interpersonal communication, two experiments investigated the effect of a (fictitious) political candidate praising the audience during a meeting. The flattery was addressed to the social category to which participants belong (direct flattery condition) or to another social category (observed flattery condition). The flattering message (vs. control condition) employed in the context of a public speech induced a more positive candidate evaluation on both the members of the flattered audience and the observers. The effect was not mediated by degree of message scrutiny, nor by suspicion of source ulterior motives, and it was not moderated by the level of identification with the audience. This suggests that the compliment to the audience leads the members of the flattered category to reciprocate liking and the observers to transfer the source’s attitude recursively (TAR effect). Theoretical and practical implications are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Can mood influence the way people produce and respond to ingratiating messages? Based on recent affect-cognition theories we demonstrate for the first time that mild negative mood increased communicators' use of ingratiatory tactics such as flattery, conformity and self-promotion (Exp. 1). Experiment 2 further confirmed that ingratiatory messages written in a negative mood were more effective and resulted in more positive interpersonal evaluations than messages written in a positive mood. Experiment 3 found that negative mood also improved recipients' willingness to accept realistic ingratiation. An analysis of response latencies (Exps. 1 and 3) and recall (Exp. 3), and mediational analyses showed that these effects were consistent with negative mood promoting longer and more attentive processing by both senders and recipients. The theoretical implications of these results for recent affect-cognition theories are considered, and the practical implications of these findings for everyday strategic communication and interpersonal behavior are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A total of 272 students at a German university were asked to write down the story of an ingratiation attempt they had made and one they had received. They were then asked to reflect on each episode via a questionnaire. All but one participant reported that they had performed at least one of the four tactics postulated in Jones’s ingratiation theory: compliments, favor-doing, opinion conformity, and positive self-presentation. In the case of received ingratiation, we found higher success ratings for nondependent (vs. dependent) partners, for just-being-friendly (vs. attraction-seeking) as the attributed motive, and for honest (vs. nonhonest) compliments and self-presentation. Female senders reported more success than did males (interpretable through existing research on gender differences). Finally, success levels were higher in the sender than in the receiver condition. Thus with our new autobiographical method we have extended the validity of three known determinants of the success of ingratiation attempts and discovered two “novel” factors deserving further research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This study contributes to the ecological validity of resume research by systematically examining the impression management (IM) content of actual resumes and cover letters and empirically testing the effect on applicant evaluation. Design/methodology/approach: A content analysis of the frequency and intensity of IM tactic use in 60 resumes and cover letters was completed (Study 1). Next, an experiment was conducted in which IM tactic use was manipulated and the effect on applicant evaluation examined, using a sample of MTurk workers as evaluators (Study 2). Findings: In Study 1, four self-promotion categories, three ingratiation categories, and one hybrid category were delineated. In Study 2, ingratiation and lower intensity self-promotion were found to increase perceptions of job and organization fit. Implications: Employers should be aware that resumes and cover letters contain IM tactics that may influence applicant evaluation. In addition, employment training programs might communicate the benefits of using ingratiation and lower intensity self-promotion, while emphasizing the importance of accurately conveying one's qualifications. Furthermore, the present taxonomy of IM resume content might be applied to resume database search engines to identify and index IM tactic use. Originality/value: This research is the first to develop a taxonomy of IM tactics based on actual resumes and cover letters and may facilitate more comprehensive manipulations of IM tactic use and better integration of IM research across the selection process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]