Impression management and social media profiles

Abstract

There is ample evidence from the selection literature that job applicants engage in various forms of impression management (IM), for instance when completing personality tests or answering employment interview questions. Such behaviors can impact the selection process outcome and threaten its validity, particularly if applicants use deceptive IM. In parallel, research in cyberpsychology has examined how social media users engage in IM to create specific impressions on friends or family members, and achieve a positive online identity. However, with organizations increasingly relying on cyber-vetting, job applicants are also likely to engage in IM tactics oriented towards employers in their social media profiles. This chapter thus brings those two literatures together and proposes a framework of job applicants' IM on social media.