Examining the effect of organizational culture on faking in the job interview

Abstract

Deceptive impression management may alter interviewers’ perceptions of applicants’ qualifications, and consequently, decrease the predictive validity of the job interview. In examining faking antecedents, research has given little attention to situational variables. Using a between-subjects experiment, this research addressed that gap by examining whether organizational culture impacted both the extent to which applicants faked during an employment interview and the manner in which they faked. Analyses of variance revealed that organizational culture did not affect either the extent to which applicants faked nor the manner in which they faked their values. However, when taking into account applicants’ perceptions of the ideal candidate, organizational culture was found to affect the manner in which applicants faked their personality. Overall, the findings provide some support for the dynamic model of applicant faking and suggest that applicants may be able to fake their personalities during job interviews to increase their person-organization fit.