The big five factors and faking behaviors in employment interviews

Abstract

Research shows how it is not unusual for job applicants to fake during employment interviews. Faking can deteriorate the quality of the interview result, and lead to wrong hiring decisions. According to the model of faking likelihood in the employment interview, capability, willingness and opportunity to fake influence the extent to which faking happens in employment interviews. Listed as one of the factors of willingness to fake, personality is among the antecedents of faking occurrence in employment interviews. Thorough understanding of personality and faking behaviors can contribute to the knowledge of faking in employment interviews and support practitioners to identify who is likely to fake, thereby reducing the faking likelihood. Although much has been done on research of faking in personality measures, little has been done in regard to personality and faking behavior in employment interviews. Due to the importance and the sparse knowledge in this topic, this thesis explores the link between personality and faking behavior using the Big Five factors and the Interview Faking Behavior scale. Two scales were added into one questionnaire, and shared on our social networks profiles. The sample consisted of a total of 154 responses after data cleansing. Additionally, we used gender and how long ago the interview occurred as control variables. Our findings revealed that Agreeableness and Conscientiousness had a negative effect on Extensive Image Creation. Additionally, we discovered that Agreeableness was negatively correlated with Image Protection. Theoretically, our findings, which advocate that personality does influence faking behaviors, contribute as a jigsaw puzzle piece into the broad picture of faking behaviors in employment interviews. Practically, this thesis suggests that practitioners should be more cautious with applicants who score low on Agreeableness and Conscientiousness as they are more likely to get involved in severe forms of faking in employment interviews. Keywords: impression management, faking behavior, personality traits, the Big Five, employment interviews, interview faking.