Selling Oneself: Construct and Criterion-Related Validity of Impression Management in Structured Interviews

Interviewee impression management has been a long-standing concern in the interview literature. Yet recent insights into the impact of impression management on interviewee performance in structured interviews suggest that interviewee impression management may be more than just a source of bias and a nuisance. Rather, impression management should possess construct-related validity and contribute to the interviews' criterion-related validity. These hypotheses were tested with 129 participants using a simulated selection interview aimed at university graduates. Results confirmed most of the hypotheses. In particular, interviewee impression management behavior showed construct-related validity across different structured interview types and correlated positively with interviewees' performance on subsequent typical and maximum performance proxy criteria. Implications and directions for future research are discussed.