DOING MORE HARM THAN GOOD - WHEN IS IMPRESSION MANAGEMENT LIKELY TO EVOKE A NEGATIVE RESPONSE

Impression management tactics do not always successfully influence obs ervers, and may in fact create undesirable impressions. Hypotheses are derived concerning the conditions under which observers may respond m ore or less positively to impression management tactics. Qualitative d ata from an experiment manipulating two impression management tactics- self-handicapping and causal accounts--in conjunction with successful or failed performance outcomes were content-analyzed for subjects' gen eral impressions of an actor. In turn, these ratings were subjected to an ANOVA. Results suggest that impression management tactics are diff erentially effective and under certain conditions can actually create negative images. The consistency of impression management tactics, per formance outcomes, and observers' expectations form the basis for obse rvers' general impressions of impression managers.