Impression management strategies in accordance with social role theory

Download This Article

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Abstract

Impression management (IM) is a process where individuals consciously or unconsciously control the information, behaviors, and expressions they present to others. Studies on IM that are based on social role theory have mostly focused on gender roles. However, there is a growing recognition of the need to expand social role research beyond traditional gender roles (Anglin et al., 2022). This study aims to investigate the influence of various societal roles, including gender, age, occupation, and education, on IM strategies among Jordanian public sector employees within organizational contexts. Drawing upon social role theory and existing literature, this research seeks to explore how different social roles intersect and shape IM behaviors. Data were collected from 927 participants via an online questionnaire distributed through convenience sampling. Nonparametric analysis was employed, utilizing the Mann–Whitney U test and Kruskal–Wallis H test to analyze gender-based and other variables with three or more groups, respectively. The findings suggest that while gender, occupation, and educational background can impact IM, their influence is often overshadowed by the broader organizational context. This study contributes to the literature by expanding our understanding of IM beyond traditional gender roles and elucidating the complex interplay between societal roles and IM strategies.

Keywords: Impression Management, Social Role Theory, Gender Role, Public Sector, Mann–Whitney U Test, Kruskal–Wallis H Test

Authors’ individual contribution: Conceptualization — W.E.; Methodology — N.M.S.; Software — N.M.S.; Validation — W.E.; Formal Analysis — N.M.S.; Investigation — W.E. and N.M.S.; Resources — W.E. and N.M.S.; Data Curation — N.M.S.; Writing — Original Draft — W.E.; Writing — Review & Editing — W.E.; Supervision — W.E.; Project Administration — W.E.

Declaration of conflicting interests: The Authors declare that there is no conflict of interest.

JEL Classification: J16, M14, M51, Z13, C83

Received: 11.12.2023
Accepted: 06.05.2024
Published online: 07.05.2024

How to cite this paper: Ensour, W., & Sarhan, N. M. (2024). Impression management strategies in accordance with social role theory. Corporate Governance and Organizational Behavior Review, 8(2), 191–200. https://doi.org/10.22495/cgobrv8i2p19