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TORONTO, March 12, 2002 -- People tend to worry about what others think of them. Then it is no surprise that a manager's or an employee's behaviour might be affected by their own perceptions of what other people think, according to a recent study by Prof. John Oesch of the University of Toronto's Rotman School of Management. Most people even take steps, called 'impression management', to try to enhance others' impressions. Successful impression management in the workplace is related to increases in job offers, promotions, and salaries. As a result, people will behave - in the workplace and other social settings - according to accepted social standards that they believe will show them in the most positive light. The study demonstrated that people will also use internal standards to monitor their own impressions of themselves, thus engaging in self-impression management.

In the study, when people were given total control over allocation of money in a totally anonymous situation, some individuals kept it all for themselves, while others gave half to someone else. A third group altered their behaviour depending on very small changes in allocation options. They kept it all for themselves only when no other reasonable alternative was available. But if they could choose an option to keep 90 per cent and give away 10 per cent or some other combination, they did not keep it all for themselves. The study determined that all three of these groups possess their own internal standards, even when no one else is watching, and behave accordingly. Those who always keep all of the money consider themselves to be 'rational,' and value this self-impression. Those who give half of the money away like to think of themselves as being 'fair'. The third group will keep money if they can justify to themselves that they are 'not being greedy' (limited options), but will give away more if they have many options. Individuals in all three groups were very concerned about maintaining their self-impressions; rational, perfectly fair, or not greedy. Managers should recognize that employees will respond not only to their perceptions of the manager's evaluations but also to the employees' own self-impressions.

The study was recently published in Games and Economic Behavior and was co-authored by Prof. J. Keith Murnighan of the Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University and Prof. Madan Pillutla of London Business School.

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