Love the Way You Lie

Abstract

In case of an applicant shortage, signaling theory and research on interviewer impression management (IM) imply that hiring managers use more IM. To test which kind of IM behavior they apply and whether it indeed influences applicants, participants fulfilled the role of hiring managers and recorded company presentation videos, either assuming an applicant shortage or a sufficient number of applicants. In the applicant shortage condition, participants used more defensive IM, indicated by self-reported, observed, and artifactual (withholding negative visual information about an organization) IM measures. Additionally, more defensive IM led to better perceived organizational attractiveness. This study contributes to IM research shedding light on hiring managers’ IM behavior and stimulating ideas on how to study IM behavior in the laboratory.