Applicant Impression Management in Job PDF

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739
Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology (2010), 83, 739757

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Applicant impression management in job

interview: The moderating role of interviewer
affectivity
Chien-Cheng Chen1*, Irene Wen-Fen Yang2 and Wei-Chih Lin1
1
2
National Taipei University of Technology, Taiwan, ROC

National Chiao Tung University, Hsinchu, Taiwan, ROC
In light of the organizational need to obtain talented personnel, an appropriate
evaluation of applicant behaviour in the selection interview is crucial. Extending past
research on applicant use of impression management (IM) tactics, this study examines
the effects of a broad set of IM tactics in a field setting, and also investigates the
moderating roles of two rarely tested interviewer characteristics: interviewer positive
affectivity (PA) and negative affectivity (NA). Due to the nested nature of the data,
consisting of 142 job applicants and 33 interviewers, we adopt hierarchical linear
modelling (HLM) to examine the proposed hypotheses. The results indicate that three
IM tactics (self-focused IM, SFIM; other-focused IM, OFIM; and non-verbal IM, NVIM)
are significantly positively related to interviewer evaluations. Furthermore, interviewer
PA appears to strengthen the positive effects of SFIM tactics on interviewer evaluations,
while the effects of NVIM tactics may be weaker when interviewers are high in NA.
In addition, these findings suggest the importance of interviewer trait affectivity in
explaining interviewers decision-making variability, which may lead to low inter-rater
reliability and in turn restrict the level of achievable validity.
Acquiring high quality human resources is the first step for organizations looking to
maintain superior competitive advantages within the business environment (Ployhart,
2006). To obtain talented persons, the use of a selection interview has been very
popular in practice; the results of previous research also offer positive perspectives
regarding the use of interviews (Ellis, West, Ryan, & DeShon, 2002). The recent
literature on the selection interview has focused on interview practices, as well as
applicant reactions (e.g., Hausknecht, Day, & Thomas, 2004), interviewer personality
and behaviours (e.g., Higgins & Judge, 2004), or interview formats (e.g., Chapman &
Zweig, 2005).
An additional important issue pertaining to interview research, the use of impression
management (IM) tactics, has recently received greater attention in the literature
* Correspondence should be addressed to Professor Chien-Cheng Chen, 1, Section 3, Chung-Hsiao E. Road, Taipei 10608,
Taiwan, ROC (e-mail: ccchen@ntut.edu.tw).
DOI:10.1348/096317909X473895

740 Chien-Cheng Chen et al.
(Van Iddekinge, McFarland, & Raymark, 2007). IM is defined as the conscious or

unconscious attempt to control the images that are projected in : : : social interactions
(Schlenker, 1980, p. 6) and frequently may be used by job applicants within an interview
setting (Ellis et al., 2002). Although past studies have confirmed the positive relationship
between applicant IM tactics and interviewer evaluations (e.g., Kristof-Brown, Barrick,
& Franke, 2002; Stevens & Kristof, 1995), the intricacies embedded within the
boundaries of such effects have yet to be thoroughly examined. Given the intense
interest in investigating the influences of interviewer characteristics within the
employment interview context (e.g., Hazer & Jacobson, 2003; Lievens & Peeters, 2008),
the present study focuses on the exploration of the moderating effects of interviewer
affectivity on the relationship between job applicant IM tactics use and interview
ratings.
Recent research has made considerable advances concerning the use of IM tactics in
the selection process (Bolino, Kacmar, Turnley, & Gilstrap, 2008). However, findings
pertaining to the effects of influential IM tactics on interview outcomes remain varied,
and factors that may explain such inconsistencies are still less explored. To our
knowledge, only three studies have touched on this issue by testing the boundary
conditions of the effects of the use of IM tactics within the selection interview context
(i.e., Hazer & Jacobson, 2003; Howard & Ferris, 1996; Tsai, Chen, & Chiu, 2005).
Specifically, Howard and Ferris (1996) found that applicant self-promotion IM tactics
were less effective in influencing well-trained interviewers than untrained interviewers.
The results of Hazer and Jacobsons study (2003) also showed that interviewers selfmonitoring traits would strengthen the relationship between applicant self-presentation
IM tactics and interviewers perceived employability of the applicants. In addition, Tsai
et al. (2005) found that interview structure, customer-contact requirement, and
interview length, would moderate the effects of IM tactics. Given the need to clarify the
aforementioned relationships, the present study examines the moderating roles of
interviewer trait affectivity on the relationship between applicant use of IM tactics and
interview outcomes.
The present study extends previous research in the following three ways. First, in
contrast to the work of Hazer and Jacobson (2003) and that of Howard and Ferriss
(1996), where laboratory context was used for data collection, the present study was
conducted in actual interview settings (similar to Tsai et al., 2005). Thus, our research
design has the advantage of reflecting the physical, emotional, and cognitive fidelity of
interviews where there are real outcomes for both interviewer and applicant
(Posthuma, Morgeson, & Campion, 2002, p. 41).
Second, previous research has mostly examined self-focused IM (SFIM) tactics, nonverbal IM (NVIM) tactics, or a combination of both. The present study, however,
simultaneously discusses the effects of three types of IM tactics SFIM tactics, otherfocused IM (OFIM) tactics, and NVIM tactics and responds to the call for further
investigation of the effects of different IM tactic types (Ellis et al., 2002; Gilmore,
Stevens, Harrell-Cook, & Ferris, 1999). By examining various IM tactics in naturally
occurring interview situations, the present study not only offers empirical evidence that
increases our knowledge of the range, frequency, and complexity of IM tactics, but also
helps to generalize the findings to real employment settings.
Third, in contrast to previous studies based on the use of ordinary least square (OLS)
regression (e.g., Hazer & Jacobson, 2003; Tsai et al., 2005) and structural equation
modelling (e.g., Howard & Ferris, 1996), the current study adopts hierarchical linear
modelling (HLM; Raudenbush & Bryk, 2002) to accommodate the current data

Applicant impression management
741
structure. While testing the effects of predictors on interviewer evaluations, Hox (1994)
suggested that researchers should consider the possible estimation bias associated with
the traditional regression approach when analysing data for field interview studies.
Considering the nested nature of the data used in the present study, a series of HLM
analyses are performed to test the influences of applicant use of IM tactics on
interviewer evaluations. Moreover, the moderating effects of interviewer positive
affectivity (PA) and negative affectivity (NA) are also tested using HLM.
In this paper, we first describe different classifications of IM tactics and the
influences of IM tactics on interviewer evaluations. We briefly review the literature on
how affect may impact decision making and apply this knowledge to the interviewing
domain. Grounded on our theoretical discussion about the moderating effects of
interviewer PA and NA, we then examine the aforementioned effects in actual interview
setting.
IM tactics and interviewer evaluations

Along with the growth in scholarly discussion pertaining to the influence of IM within
organizations, researchers have also devised various classifications for types of IM tactics
(e.g., Schneider, 1981; Tedeschi & Melburg, 1984). In the present study, we adopt the
classifications proposed by Kacmar, Delery, and Ferris (1992): SFIM tactics (e.g., selfpromotion, entitlements, and exemplification) and OFIM tactics (e.g., ingratiation,
other reinforcement, feigned helplessness, and fit with organization). More specifically,
based on applicants conversation focus within the interview, SFIM tactics are said to be
used when the interview conversation focus remains predominantly on the applicant.
However, if the applicant tries to shift the focus to the interviewer, they are said to
engage in OFIM tactics.
The use of this classification is justified for two reasons. First, although the split
between SFIM and OFIM tactics does not include one of the important verbal IM
categories (i.e., defensive IM), this categorization is relatively easy to understand and
also includes most verbal IM tactics actually employed by applicants. Second, according
to Tedeschi and Melburg (1984), most applicants tend to use assertive IM tactics, which
normally target on short-term objectives and are used to foster a desired image. Indeed,
the SFIM and OFIM tactics have been considered assertive IM in Tedeschi and Melburgs
(1984) research. In addition to these two types of IM tactics, in the present study, we add
a third category NVIM tactics (e.g., eye contact, smiling, and nodding) as suggested
by Kristof-Brown et al. (2002) and Tsai et al. (2005). In sum, three types of IM tactics
(i.e., SF, OF, and NV) are adopted for the present study and linked to interviewer
evaluations.
Past research has indicated that the context of the selection interview provides a
great opportunity for interviewers to observe applicant behaviours, and at the same
time evaluate their potential fit in terms of both the job and the organization. Moreover,
the ability to identify and interpret the use of IM tactics within an interview may help
interviewers infer the behavioural patterns of applicants and thereby predict future
work behaviours (Ferris & Judge, 1991). Some previous studies have also detailed the
importance of examining the effects of IM tactics in selection interviews (e.g., Gilmore
et al., 1999; Van Iddekinge et al., 2007).
For example, Rosenfeld (1997) argued that the use of SFIM tactics in interviews may
disclose information regarding the applicants potential to accomplish job requirements, and therefore should be anticipated by interviewers due to its job relevant

nature. Howard and Ferris (1996) found that applicant use of self-promotion and NVIM
tactics led to interviewer hiring recommendations due to influences associated with
perceived similarity and competence. The results of Stevens and Kristof (1995)
indicated that the use of self-promotion and fit with organization IM tactics significantly
affected interviewer ratings of applicant suitability. Furthermore, Kristof-Brown et al.
(2002) found that self-promotion IM was strongly correlated to personjob fit, and that
NVIM was also positively related to interviewer similarity. Moreover, the results of
Higgins and Judge (2004) showed that applicant ingratiation tactics affected
interviewers overall fit perception of applicants, thus leading to stronger hiring
recommendations.
In sum, the effects of using a variety of IM tactics seem to be influential in terms of
interviewer evaluations. Thus, the following hypotheses are proposed:
Hypothesis 1a: Applicant SFIM tactics will be positively related to interviewer evaluations.
Hypothesis 1b: Applicant OFIM tactics will be positively related to interviewer evaluations.
Hypothesis 1c: Applicant NVIM tactics will be positively related to interviewer evaluations.
The moderating effects of interviewer trait affectivity

Affect has proven to be a popular research topic over the last decade (Brief & Weiss,
2002; Zajonc, 2000). It is both defined broadly and divided into two realms: state affect
or trait affectivity, in the literature. The former is considered to be short-term and easyto-change, and also includes a discussion of emotions (intense and short-lived affective
states) and moods (less intense and relatively enduring affective states as compared to
emotions). Alternatively, trait affectivity refers to individual differences relevant to
emotional disposition and self-concept, and is further composed of two facets PA and
NA (George, 1996). In the literature, PA and NA are considered to be two independent
traits (Meyer & Shack, 1989; Watson & Clark, 1992). Individuals with high PA actively
engage in their surroundings and normally experience and maintain positive moods and
emotions. In contrast, individuals with high NA tend to have negative orientation and
unpleasant feelings towards themselves and their surroundings, and easily experience
negative affective states (George & Brief, 1992).
The affect infusion model (AIM; Forgas, 1995), which accounts for and integrates the
various informational and processing consequences of affect, can provide a theoretical
foundation for discussing how affect may influence cognition and judgment. The AIM
asserts that affect infusion into thinking and judgment is most likely to occur when
people adopt an elaborate, substantive processing strategy, and make judgments while
lacking the benefit of objective evidence (Forgas, 1998). Further, affect selectively
primes affect-related thoughts and memories used for constructing responses (Forgas &
George, 2001). Indeed, the selection interview discussed in this study is a constructive
task that involves a full, open search for information. In such a situation, the AIM
predicts that interviewer affect will lead to a priming effect in terms of their attention,
encoding, and retrieval processes, which in turn may influence their hiring
recommendations.
In the present study, we focus on the effects of trait affectivity and attempt to
demonstrate the moderating role of PA and NA in altering the relationships between IM
tactics and interviewer evaluations. Trait affectivity may be associated with stronger
effects than state affect because the former is more stable and enduring over time, and

743
allows for continual rather than fleeting effects on cognition and behaviour (Wright &
Staw, 1999). In addition, the effects of affective states on cognition are short-lived
(Isen, Clark, & Schwartz, 1976), and may be replaced by other (perhaps contrary) states
before personal judgments can be made (Forgas & Ciarrochi, 2001). Moreover, since
there is almost certainly some delay between the onset of certain affective states and the
consequences associated with them, any alteration or fading of an affective state may
reduce its likelihood of influence (Wright & Staw, 1999). Thus, in this paper we focus on
the effects of affective traits, rather than affective states1.
Although it may seem that affective states can influence the cognition and judgments
implied in our hypotheses, we believe that affective traits are also associated with the
processes proposed here for two reasons: first, trait PA and NA can increase the
likelihood of the occurrence of state PA and NA, respectively (George & Brief, 1992;
Watson, Clark, & Tellegen, 1988). Therefore, the affective traits should increase the
overall likelihood of the cognitive processes associated with their corresponding
affective states (Fried, Levi, Ben-David, Tiegs, & Avital, 2000). Second, state affect and
trait affectivity are so closely related that they have been described as the former being
provoked in a specific context, the latter (background) influencing this provocation
(Lazarus, 1991, p. 47). Barsade et al. (2000, p. 804) suggested that while state affect is a
shorter-term reaction associated with greater fluctuation than trait affect: : : researchers
view the underlying processes as being very similar.
We propose that interviewer trait PA can strengthen the effects of IM tactics. There
are three reasons for this assertion. First, interviewers with high PA are likely to loosen
the criteria used in the evaluation process (e.g., Robbins & DeNisi, 1998). For example,
Forgas (2002) argued that high PA employees tend to be very confident when making
quick decisions; they may hold looser or lower standards of judgment and welcome
personal expressions and opinions. Bowden (1993) also suggested that individuals with
high PA tend to have an unrestrained conceptual thinking pattern. Specifically, high PA
decision makers often adopt more flexible thinking approaches (Isen & Means, 1983)
and make decisions more creatively and intuitively (Abele, 1992). In general, these
arguments support the expectation that interviewers with high PA may take different
possible information cues into consideration and even include an applicants use of
different IM tactics as part of the evaluation criteria.
Second, the information processing preferences of high PA interviewers may also
influence the effects of using IM tactics on interviewer evaluations. Individuals with
high PA may trust various information sources easily and fail to discriminate between
information source quality. For example, Mackie and Worth (1991) argued that
individuals who prefer to engage in more positive events or maintain happy feelings
continually may think more positively. Moreover, Rusting (1999) also found that high PA
individuals are more motivated to recall positive memories and tend to make positive
judgments. Judge and Ilies (2004) also argued that individuals with high trait PA may be
Currently, most scholars treat affective traits and personality factors as related but separate concepts (Burger & Caldwell,
2000). As noted by Barsade et al. (2000), trait affectivity is a more narrowly defined affective construct that leads to
specifically affective manifestations (Tellegen, 1985; Watson & Clark, 1992). Barsade et al. (2000, p. 804) argued that this is
by contrast, for example, to extroversion, which in addition to affective components such as cold and warm includes many
other, less purely affectively related components, such as the degree of sociability, talkativeness, and spontaneity, and being a
joiner versus being a loner. Rusting (1999) also noted that extraversion and PA may tap into somewhat different aspects of
personality: Positive affectivity represents a propensity to experience positive emotions, but extraversion places more emphasis
on the desire for social contact (p. 1074). Therefore, in this study, we chose to focus on affective traits, rather than other
personality variables (i.e., extraversion, neuroticism).

more sensitive to positive stimuli. Therefore, it is reasonable to hypothesize that the

evaluations of high PA interviewers may be affected to a large degree by applicant use of
IM tactics, because high PA interviewers may simply rely on information provided by
applicants or are more likely to recall positive applicant behaviours, such as selfpromotion, smiles, or ingratiating interviewer opinions.
Third, the format used by high PA interviewers while conducting interviews may also
influence the effects of applicant IM tactics. For example, high PA individuals are
inclined to view themselves pleasurably and effectively engage in interpersonal relations
and achievement (Tellegen, 1985). Therefore, in contrast with low PA interviewers, high
PA interviewers may be more concerned about establishing informal contact with
applicants, tend to have more discretion over interview questions, and thus be less
inclined to high structure interviews (Lievens & De Paepe, 2004). In other words,
applicant IM tactics become more effective in terms of influencing interviewer
evaluations due to the low level of interview structure (Tsai et al., 2005). On the basis of
the above arguments, the following hypotheses are proposed:
Hypothesis 2a: The positive association between applicant use of SFIM tactics and interviewer
evaluations will be stronger when interviewers score high in PA.
Hypothesis 2b: The positive association between applicant use of OFIM tactics and interviewer
Hypothesis 2c: The positive association between applicant use of NVIM tactics and interviewer
In addition to considering the possible moderating effect of PA, we also believe that
interviewer trait NA may weaken the relationship between applicant use of IM tactics
and interviewer evaluations. One possible explanation is that individuals high in NA
normally think systematically and are adept in structural cogitation. Such a systematic,
structural analysis of evaluation criteria may decrease the influence of IM tactics. Indeed,
Schwarz, Bless, and Bohner (1991a) found that high NA individuals make decisions
based on more systematic rationales. In addition, Raymark, Skowronski, Bevard, and
Hamann (2001) found that high NA supervisors make fine discriminations among events
they record in a diary, suggesting that high NA may lead to increases in both cognitive
effort and attention to detail. Moreover, Kimberly and Pamela (1999) noted that
individuals with high NA tend to adopt a systematic approach to decision making; they
tend to begin with carefully organizing the analysis process, then following correct
procedures to carry out each analysis step, and finally making judgments based on the
results of the analysis. Similarly, we may expect that interviewers with high NA may
attempt to evaluate applicants in multiple ways and make final decisions based on the
results of their careful evaluations. Thus, the use of IM tactics may lead to weaker effects
on interviewer evaluations.
Another argument may link to the condition of evaluation inflation. Fried, Levi,
Ben-David, and Tiegs (1999) found that high NA individuals were less likely to inflate
performance ratings. As a result of their pattern of deliberate thinking, high NA
individuals may evaluate others more carefully in order to minimize expected pressures
from other people. In addition, Bless, Bohner, Schwarz, and Stracks (1990) findings also
provided evidence of careful decision-making patterns associated with high NA
individuals. Staw and Barsade (1993) extended the results of Bless et al. (1990), and
found that a propensity to prevent possible challenges led high NA individuals to make
decisions more deliberately, and to remain less affected by the behaviours or attitudes of

745
the people they evaluate. Accordingly, these arguments imply that interviewers with
high NA, as compared to low NA interviewers, may be more likely to ignore the
influences of job-irrelevant factors (e.g., the use of IM tactics) when making evaluation
decisions. Thus, the following hypotheses are proposed:
Hypothesis 3a: The positive association between applicant use of SFIM tactics and interviewer
evaluations will be weaker when interviewers score high in NA.
Hypothesis 3b: The positive association between applicant use of OFIM tactics and interviewer
Hypothesis 3c: The positive association between applicant use of NVIM tactics and interviewer
Methods
Participants
Participants consisted of 142 job applicants and 33 interviewers from 20 firms in
northern Taiwan. Data were collected between autumn 2006 and spring 2007. The 20
firms were from the following four industries, service industry (35%), financial industry
(20%), manufacturing industry (15%), and others (30%). On average, one interviewer
would interview and evaluate 4.33 applicants. Of the types of jobs available, 48% were
marketing and sales relevant, 18% were engineering relevant, 14% were administrative
works, 11% were financial relevant, and 9% were of other types of works. In general, the
interviewer conducted one-on-one interview with the applicant. Of the 142 job
applicants, 71 (50%) were male, the mean age was 26.1 years, and the mean working
experience was 7.6 years. Among the 33 interviewers, 23 (69.70%) were male, the
average age was 33.4 years, and the average number of interviews participated was 20.5.
On average, interviewers participating in this study have been trained about once in
how to conduct the employment interview.
Procedures
We first contacted the firms and received permissions from the managers or human
resource department. After the end of the one-on-one interview, the interviewer was
asked to complete a survey regarding his or her interview evaluations towards the
applicant. At the end of the final interview, the interviewer was invited to fill out a
survey regarding their affective disposition. The applicant was also invited to fill out
a survey about using IM tactics and demographic information after leaving the interview
room. We also explained to the applicants that this survey was irrelevant to interview
results. To prevent the effects of social desirability, we followed the suggestions of
Arnold and Feldman (1981); we did not reveal the real objectives of the present study;
the participants were promised that all results were completely confidential.
Measures
IM tactics
After carefully reviewing various measures of IM tactics, 17 items were used to measure
applicants use of IM tactics. According to Tsai et al. (2005), using applicants self-ratings

of IM tactics should be appropriate because adopting a different rating source from

interviewer reports can avoid the problem of common method variance. Previous
research also found that the scores of self-reported IM tactics measurement are similar to
the ones rated by the interviewers (Stevens & Kristof, 1995). Thus, we asked applicants
to self-report their uses of IM tactics and indicate their agreement using five-point Likert
scale (1 strongly disagree; 5 strongly agree).
Six items measuring SFIM tactics were adopted from Tsai et al. (2005). Sample items
included During the interview, I demonstrated my knowledge and expertise, I tried to
draw the interviewers attention to my records of accomplishment, and I tried to
convince the interviewer that my behaviour is good enough to use as a model for others.
The Cronbachs alpha for this six-item measure was .85. Five items were used to
measure OFIM tactics, including three items adopted from Kristof-Brown et al. (2002)
and two items from Stevens and Kristof (1995). Sample items include I discussed non
job-related topics with the interviewer, I discussed interests I shared in common with
the interviewer, and I complimented the interviewer. The Cronbachs alpha for this
five-item measure was .87. Six items were used to measure NVIM tactics, including three
items from Kristof-Brown et al. (2002) and three items from Stevens and Kristof (1995).
Sample items include I maintained eye contact with the interviewer and I used
friendly NV cues, such as nodding and smile. The Cronbachs alpha for this six-item
measure was .84.
Interviewer evaluation
Five items were adopted from Tsai et al. (2005) to measure interviewers post-interview
evaluations. Subjects were asked to indicate their agreement using a six-point Likert
scale. Sample items include I do consider this applicant suitable for hiring into this
organization and I am likely to invite the applicant to a second interview. The
Cronbachs alpha for this measure was .97.
Interviewer trait affectivity
We measured interviewer trait affectivity (PA and NA) using the positive and negative
affect schedule (PANAS; Watson et al., 1988). The PANAS is a 20-item instrument
containing 10 PA items and 10 NA items. Respondents were asked to indicate the extent
to which the 20 adjectives described how they feel generally in their life as a whole
(1 not at all; 5 extremely). Sample items include adjectives like interested, strong,
and enthusiastic to measure PA and nervous, afraid, and ashamed to measure NA.
The Cronbachs alphas were .88 for the PA measure and .98 for the NA measure.
Control variables
Four control variables were included in the present study applicant gender, applicant
physical attractiveness, application qualification, and interviewer experience. Applicant
gender was self-reported and dummy coded for further analysis (1 male; 2 female).
One item adopted from Cable and Judge (1997) was used to measure interviewer
assessment of the applicants physical attractiveness (i.e., I think that this applicants
physical appearance is fairly attractive) on a six-point Likert scale
(1 very unattractive; 6 very attractive). Application qualification was measured by
one item, I have good overall impression of the applicant based on written information,
adopted from Chapman and Rowe (2001). Interviewers were asked to indicate their

747
agreement on a five-point rating scale (1 strongly disagree; 6 strongly agree). For

interviewer experiences, the interviewers were asked to self-report the total number of
interviews in which they have participated prior to the beginning of the study.
Results
Table 1 presents the means, standard deviations, and intercorrelations of all variables
included in this study. It is found that SFIM tactics were positively correlated to OFIM
tactics (r :41, p , :01) and NVIM tactics (r :54, p , :01). This result implies that
the applicants may simultaneously employ SFIM tactics combined with the use of OFIM
tactics or NVIM tactics. We also found that interviewer evaluations were significantly
positively correlated to SFIM tactics, OFIM tactics, and NVIM tactics (r :50, .56, .63,
respectively, p , :01). Moreover, there were positive correlations between interviewer
evaluation and two control variables, applicant physical attractiveness (r :39,
p , :01), and applicant qualifications (r :31, p , :01).
Table 1. Descriptive statistics and correlationsa
Variable
SD
Level 1. Applicant-level
1. Interviewer evaluation
4.24 1.24 (.97)
2. Applicant genderb
1.51 0.50
.07
()
3. Application qualification 4.39 1.03
.31** 2.01
()
4. Physical attractiveness
4.03 1.39
.39**
.13
.54** ()
5. SFIM
3.58 0.77
.50** 2.03 2 .02
.26** (.85)
6. OFIM
2.87 0.96
.56**
.04
.38** .49** .41** (.87)
7. NVIM
3.87 0.68
.63**
.11
.26** .47** .54** .54** (.84)
Level 2. Interviewer-level
1. Interviewer experience 19.70 21.10
()
2. Interviewer PA
3.65 0.60
.12
(.88)
3. Interviewer NA
2.02 0.71 2.10
2.11
(.98)
a
Applicant N 142, interviewer N 33. Values in parentheses are Cronbachs alphas.

Coded as male, 1; female, 2.
**p , :01:
Confirmatory factor analyses using maximum-likelihood estimation were conducted

to test if each of the two designated models had a good fit to interviewer or applicant
data. The results showed that the four-factor structure (i.e., SFIM tactics, OFIM tactics,
NVIM tactics, and interviewer evaluations) had a good fit to the applicant data
(x2 424:17, df 203, p , :01, CFI :91, and RMSEA :09). On the other hand, the
fit of the two-factor model (PA and NA) was at an acceptable level (x2 308:19,
df 169, p , :01, CFI :70, and RMSEA :16), considering data were collected from
a relatively small number of interviewers.
Moreover, we also assessed discriminant validity by constraining inter-construct
correlations to unity one at a time and measuring the difference in the chi-square
statistic (Anderson & Gerbing, 1988). The results showed that the changes in chi-square
were all significant at the .01 level (Dx2 ranged from 161.65 to 414.81 for the four-factor

model; Dx2 107:05, for one-factor PA NA model), hence discriminant validity is

achieved.
In testing the effects of predictors on interviewer evaluation, Hox (1994) suggested
that researchers should consider the possible estimation bias of using OLS regression
when analysing data for field interview studies. As multiple job applicants are normally
assigned to the same interviewer, data collected from such interviews may be
confounded by certain interviewer effects. Using OLS regression to test this kind of data
may violate the assumptions of regression analysis. Therefore, considering the nested
nature of the data, a series of HLM analyses were performed to test the influence of the
use of applicant IM tactics on interviewer evaluations. Moreover, the moderating effects
of interviewer PA and NA were also tested by HLM.
HLM 6.2 was used to model the linkages among the applicant and interviewer
variables. In the present study, three IM tactics, interviewer evaluation, and three
applicant level controls (i.e., applicant gender, qualification, and physical attractiveness)
were included in the first level of analysis. Interviewer PA and NA and interviewer
experience were entered in the second level of analysis. We then followed Hofmann,
Griffin, and Gavins (2000) suggestion to investigate the between-interviewer variation
before testing the hierarchical models. The results obtained from the null model
indicated that the intra-class correlation (ICC[1]) was .23. This value was comparable to
the recommended ICC(1) values found in the literature and thus provided evidence for
the aggregation of current data for further examination.
To examine the proposed hypotheses, three applicant relevant control variables and
three IM tactics were entered into level 1 model and then the intercept estimates
obtained from level 1 were used as outcome variables regressed on the interviewer-level
control variable (interviewer experience) and interviewer PA and NA. The slope
estimates obtained from the previous models were used to test the cross-level
interaction effects among three IM tactics with interviewer PA and NA. Furthermore, to
ensure meaningful interpretations of the parameter estimation and refrain from specific
interviewer effects, we group-centred level 1 predictor variables and grand-centred level
2 predictor variables before testing HLMs (Hofmann & Gavin, 1998).
As reported in Table 2, SFIM (g :41, p , :05), OFIM (g :38, p , :05), and NVIM
(g :46, p , :05) all had significant relationships with interviewer evaluation.
Therefore, Hypotheses 1ac were supported. In addition, interviewer PA was positively
related to interviewer evaluation (g :61, p , :05). Moreover, the cross-level
interactions were examined and the results showed that the interactions of SF PA
(g :29, p , :10), OF PA (g 2:37, p , :10), SF NA (g :39, p , :05), and
NV NA (g 2:79, p , :01) were significant. However, the interactions of NV PA
and OF NA were not significant. Hypotheses 2c and 3b were not supported.
In order to clarify the forms of moderating effects, we also used HLM to draw
the interaction effect plots.2 As shown in Figure 1, the positive relationship between
the use of SFIM and interviewer evaluation was stronger when the interviewers
were high in PA. Thus, Hypothesis 2a was supported. In addition, results showed that
the positive relationship between the use of OFIM and interviewer evaluation was
weaker when the interviewers were high in PA. The pattern of moderation did not
confirm the expected shape of the hypothesized interaction. Thus, Hypothesis 2b was
not supported.
For the sake of parsimony, figures representing unexpected results are omitted.

749
Table 2. HLM results for interviewer evaluationa
Variable
Level 1
Intercept
Applicant gender
Application qualification
Physical attractiveness
SFb
OFb
NVb
Level 2
Interviewer experience
PA
NA
SF PA
OF PA
NV PA
SF NA
OF NA
NV NA
Within interviewer variance
Between interviewer variance
Model deviance
Null model
4.26***
1.24
.36***
456.27
Individual level
predictors and
controls
Interviewer level
predictors
2.75***
2.06
.21**
.04
.41*
.38*
.46*
2.47***
2 .04
.32**
.10
.35**
.37**
.26**
.48
.16*
391.06
2 .00
.61*
2 .13
.29
2 .37
2 .31
.39*
2 .17
2 .79***
.45
3.69
379.88
Applicant N 142, interviewer N 33. Entries are estimations of the fixed effects with robust
standard errors.
b
Three IM variables are centered for analyses.
p , :10; *p , :05; **p , :01; ***p , :001.
Moreover, results also showed that the positive relationship between the use of SFIM
and interviewer evaluation was stronger when the interviews were high in NA. The
pattern of moderation did not confirm the expected shape of the hypothesized
interaction. Therefore, Hypothesis 3a was not supported. Finally, the shape of
interaction shown in Figure 2 supported the proposed moderation pattern that the use
of NVIM tactics might have weaker effects on interviewer evaluation when the
interviewers were high in NA. Hypothesis 3c was supported.
Discussion
The present study sought to examine the influence of applicant use of IM tactics on
interviewer evaluations and also explore the moderating effects of interviewer PA and
NA. We found that the use of SFIM, OFIM, and NVIM tactics significantly positively
affects interviewer evaluations, which supports previous findings in this area (e.g.,
Kacmar & Carlson, 1999; Kristof-Brown et al., 2002). Past research has produced
inconsistent findings regarding the effects of OFIM tactics on interviewer evaluations.
For example, Ellis et al. (2002) and Higgins and Judge (2004) found a positive
relationship between OFIM tactics and interviewer evaluations, while Peeters and


4.88
PA low
PA high
4.58
y 4.27
3.96
3.65
Low
High
Self-focused IM
Figure 1. Effect of interaction between SFIM and interviewer PA on interviewer evaluation ( y).
Lievens (2006) and Van Iddekinge et al. (2007) failed to find such effects. One possible
explanation for these contradictory results may lie in the sample characteristics and the
data collection procedures employed. Unlike the situation associated with simulated
interviews (e.g., Peeters & Lievens, 2006; Van Iddekinge et al., 2007) where
interviewers are likely to rate an ideal applicant for a hypothesized job, interviewers in
realistic settings (e.g., the present study, Ellis et al., 2002 or Higgins & Judge, 2004) may
4.97
NA low
NA high
4.62
y 4.28
3.94
3.59
Low
High
Nonverbal IM
Figure 2. Effect of interaction between NVIM and interviewer NA on interviewer evaluation ( y).

751
be more likely to select applicants who seem easy to get along with or work with, as the
applicants are potential colleagues. Consequently, applicants OF behaviours, which
may provoke interpersonal affect such as liking or similarity perceptions, may actually
receive more attention from interviewers and as a result positively influence interviewer
evaluations.
In parallel with studies that focused on the effects of NVIM tactics, we found that
NVIM was positively related to interviewer evaluations. This is consistent with previous
research findings (e.g., Howard & Ferris, 1996; Peeters & Lievens, 2006), but contrary to
Kristof-Brown et al. (2002) and Tsai et al. (2005). We believe that the reason for the
contradictory findings concerns on the measurement of NVIM tactics. Kristof-Brown
et al. (2002) and Tsai et al. (2005) used two items and one item, respectively, to measure
NVIM tactics, whereas the present study measured NVIM tactics using a six-item scale.
Considering the broad definition of NVIM outlined above, we expect that the measure
adopted in the present study may have captured a more complete conceptualization of
NVIM behaviours, thereby strengthening the relationship between NVIM tactics and
interviewer evaluations.
Beyond providing support for the significant effects associated with using IM tactics
during selection interviews, the present study also examined the moderating roles of
interviewer PA and NA. The results show that applicant use of IM tactics did not always
lead to a desired result, since the effectiveness of using the tactics was at least to some
extent determined by the interviewers. We found that interviewer PA strengthened the
effects of SF tactics; unexpectedly, the results also showed that interviewer PA did not
strengthen the effects of OFIM and NVIM. We believe that it is possible that high PA
individuals are more likely to see through information they receive from others and hold
risk-averse attitudes (Isen, 1999). Indeed, OF tactics and NV tactics were found to
influence interview outcomes by increasing perceptions of similarity and liking of the
applicant (Chen, Lee, & Yeh, 2008; Howard & Ferris, 1996). Alternatively, SFIM tactics
lead to perceptions of personjob fit (PJ fit; Kristof-Brown et al., 2002; Stevens &
Kristof, 1995). In sum, we believe that high PA interviewers may be more attentive to
the behaviours demonstrating PJ fit (e.g., SFIM), rather than enhancing liking (e.g.,
OFIM and NVIM), due to their interests of reducing the risk of bias towards interview
judgment.
The results of the current study also show that NA reduced the effects of NV tactics,
and unexpectedly strengthened the effects of SF tactics. One possible reason for this is
that high NA individuals are more attentive while making decisions and tend to neglect
irrelevant evaluation criteria (Staw & Barsade, 1993). Brief and Weiss (2002) note that
individuals with high NA are more likely to react negatively and seriously to results that
do not match their expectations. This implies that high NA interviewers tend to focus on
parts of the interview that are more relevant to the job (e.g., self-focus IM tactics).
Accordingly, the influence of extraneous information, such as the use of OFIM tactics or
NV behaviour, on interviewer decisions is minimized. This result also confirms previous
findings that high NA individuals are more deliberate than low NA individuals and
normally employ stricter standards when making judgment (e.g., Fried et al., 1999).
In addition, Lievens and Peeters (2008) also indicated that interviewers may attach
the most weight to SFIM tactics and be more sensitive to SFIM behaviours in a
behavioural description interview setting. According to Van Iddekinge et al. (2007), the
conduct of a behaviour description interview may yield more SFIM behaviour. Due to its
job relevant nature, the use of SFIM tactics may be anticipated by interviewers and
thereby yield more positive impressions. In the same vein, high NA interviewers may

consider applicant SFIM behaviour to be a demonstration of sufficient ability to perform

the job tasks required. Overall, since high NA interviewers tend to focus on job relevant
information, the effects of using SFIM may be strengthened, and thereby lead to more
favourable evaluations.
Theoretical implications
The present study contributes to research associated with linking applicant IM to
interview outcomes. Whereas previous research has examined the direct effects of IM
tactics on interview outcomes (e.g., Peeters & Lievens, 2006; Stevens & Kristof, 1995),
the present study suggests that the effects of applicant IM tactics on interview outcomes
are moderated by interviewer trait PA and NA. In addition, this finding also responds to
Posthuma et al.s (2002) call to investigate the relationship between interviewer affect
and judgment in a field setting where there are real outcomes for both interviewer and
applicant.
In addition, the present study also provides evidence for cross-cultural generalization
of the effects of applicant IM behaviours. As argued by Hough and Oswald (2000), the
validity and effects of selection tools may not generalize globally because of possible
variations in the selection process and measurement, behavioural indicators, or other
important determinants. Although some selection tools (e.g., personality inventory)
have shown comparatively stable psychometric properties across culture and language,
the demonstration of cross-cultural generalizability in interview research still needs
more research efforts. Moreover, research based on data from western cultures is
predominant in both interview and IM research it is unlikely to assume that those
findings will apply in other cultural settings (Adler, 1983). Still, reviewing past applicant
IM behaviour literature, we found that the present results are consistent with some of
the western sample-based research (e.g., Ellis et al., 2002; Howard & Ferris, 1996). Such
consistency should facilitate the generalization of previous findings limited to US
samples to other cultures, and also benefit interview practices.
Drawing on extant research in affective influences on organizational judgments,
surprisingly scant attention has been paid to the impact of affect on interviewer
decisions within the work domain. The present study contributes to the field of affect by
addressing several gaps in the literature. For example, past research (e.g., Baron, 1987;
Fried et al., 2000) has noted the important role of rater affect on organizational
judgment. However, the focus has predominantly fixated on the main effects of rater
affect in terms of the ratings. In the current study, we extend AIM theory (Forgas, 1995)
by demonstrating the moderating effects of interviewer trait affectivity. This allows us to
better understand whether rater affect interferes with applicant behaviour, which in
turn can influence rater decisions.
Moreover, both PA and NA have been found to influence information processing and
decision making, and such effects seem not to be symmetrical or parallel (Isen, 1999). As
the present study examines PA and NA simultaneously, this may provide a deeper
understanding of the effects of rater affect by answering questions regarding the what
aspects of the underlying theory building (Whetten, 1989). Finally, most studies that
examine rater affect (either in the context of selection interviews or performance
appraisals) have been conducted in laboratory contexts (Forgas & George, 2001). As the
present study is conducted in a field setting, the generalizability of the findings may be
enhanced.

753
Finally, this research, to a certain extent, clarifies an important disjunction in the field
of work affect: Sadder-but-wiser or happier-and-smarter. Whether PA or NA leads to
better decision making has been an area of active debate: Isen and colleagues have
consistently found that PA leads to better and more efficient decisions (see Isen &
Labroo, 2003 for reviews); however, other studies have indicated that NA can lead to
more correct decisions (see Schwarz, Bless, & Bohner, 1991b for reviews). The present
results contribute to the field by providing evidence that, at least in the context of
employment interview, both PA and NA can help interviewers focus on the behaviours
relevant to the applicant (i.e., SF tactics) and ignore irrelevant ones (i.e., OF and NV
tactics). In sum, we believe that future research should further examine whether
interviewer PA and NA can lead to more precise and effective interview decisions.
Practical implications
The current findings may have some practical implications for organizations using
selection interviews. Our results indicated that interviewer trait PA and NA interact
differently with the three types of IM tactics to affect interviewer ratings and thus may
imply the possibility to influence the validity of the interview process. Similar to the
argument noted by Hazer and Jacobson (2003), if interviewers are different in their level
of trait PA or NA, similar applicants may be rated quite differently depending on how
they display specific IM tactics in the interview. Therefore, we think that diverse degrees
of interviewer trait PA or NA may lead to low inter-rater reliability, restricting the level of
achievable validity. To reduce potential threats to interview validity, organizations may
want to pay close attention to the trait PA or NA of their recruiters in employment
interviews. Conducting interviews with higher levels of interview structure (e.g.,
Campion, Palmer, & Campion, 1997) would be a plausible way to mitigate the potential
influence of interviewer trait affectivity on the inter-rater reliability and validity of
employment interview.
Limitations and directions for future research

Several limitations of this study should be noted. First, the types of job vacancies
included in this study were predominantly limited to middle and entry-level jobs. Even
though efforts were made to collect data from individuals applying for managerial
positions, most organizations were less willing to disclose interview information
regarding these types of candidates due to confidentiality concerns. In addition, the
frequency that firms select managerial level applicants is also comparatively less than
that associated with non-managerial types of jobs. Nevertheless, past research has
indicated that for managerial jobs, applicants displays of IM tactics may be considered as
part of their job-related skills by interviewers (Stevens & Kristof, 1995). Thus, our
findings can be considered as a conservative estimate of actual relationships between IM
tactics and interviewer evaluations, and future research can build on the present results
and clarify the external generalizations in terms of applicant IM tactics.
Second, the current data were collected from the real interview settings. However,
issues associated with the stages of interview process were less mentioned in the
present study. As noted by Chuang and Sackett (2005) and Tsai, Chi, Huang, and Hsu
(2007), the focus of interviewer evaluations may vary according to the stage of the
interview process. Normally, the first stage of the interview process focuses on
evaluating PJ fit, while in the following stages, the evaluation criteria may turn to

evaluating the personorganization fit (PO fit). Therefore, it seems that the use of SFIM
tactics may be more influential during the initial stage of the interview process, whereas
the effects of OFIM or NVIM tactics may be of more concern as the interview focus shifts
to evaluating whether the applicant fits the organization. For this reason, we suggest
that future research should identify which stage of interview process is involved and
also strive to obtain data from different stages of interview process in order to clarify the
effects of IM tactics.
Conclusions
In conclusion, the present study contributes to our knowledge of the field of selection
interview and work affect by simultaneously examining the effects of a broad set of IM
tactics in a field setting, and also investigating the moderating role of interviewer trait
affectivity. These findings suggest the importance of interviewer trait affectivity in
explaining interviewers decision-making variability, which may lead to low inter-rater
reliability and in turn restrict the level of achievable validity.
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Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology (2010), 83, 739757