Economic predictors of differences in interview faking between countries: economic inequality matters, not the state of economy

König, Cornelius J. and Fell, Clemens B. and Langer, Markus and Pathak, Raghuvar D. and Bajwa, Nida ul Habib and Derous, Eva and Geißler, Sanja M. and Hirose, Shinichi and Hülsheger, Ute and Javakhishvili, Nino and Junges, Nilve and Knudsen, Birgit and Lee, Michael S. W. and Mariani, Marco G. and Nag, Gopal and Petrescu, Claudia and Robie, Chet and Rohorua, Halahingano and Sammel, Lavinia D. and Schictel, Désirée and Titov, Sergei and Todadze, Ketevan and von Lautz, Alexander H. and Ziem, Martina (2021) Economic predictors of differences in interview faking between countries: economic inequality matters, not the state of economy. Applied Psychology, 70 (3). pp. 1360-1379. ISSN 0269-994X

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Abstract

Many companies recruit employees from different parts of the globe, and faking behavior by potential employees is a ubiquitous phenomenon. It seems that applicants from some countries are more prone to faking compared to others, but the reasons for these differences are largely unexplored. This study relates country-level economic variables to faking behavior in hiring processes. In a cross-national study across 20 countries, participants (N = 3839) reported their faking behavior in their last job interview. This study used the random response technique (RRT) to ensure participants anonymity and to foster honest answers regarding faking behavior. Results indicate that general economic indicators (gross domestic product per capita [GDP] and unemployment rate) show negligible correlations with faking across the countries, whereas economic inequality is positively related to the extent of applicant faking to a substantial extent. These findings imply that people are sensitive to inequality within countries and that inequality relates to faking, because inequality might actuate other psychological processes (e.g., envy) which in turn increase the probability for unethical behavior in many forms.

Item Type:	Journal Article
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > H Social Sciences (General) H Social Sciences > HB Economic Theory
Divisions:	Faculty of Business and Economics (FBE) > Graduate School of Business
Depositing User:	Fulori Nainoca - Waqairagata
Date Deposited:	23 Jun 2020 23:40
Last Modified:	29 Jun 2021 04:03
URI:	https://repository.usp.ac.fj/id/eprint/12198

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