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Socially Desirable Responding

2014; SAGE Publishing; Volume: 49; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1177/1069397114552781

1552-3578

Jia He, Fons J. R. van de Vijver, Alejandra Domínguez Espinosa, Amina Abubakar, Radosveta Dimitrova, Byron G. Adams, Arzu Aydinli, Kokou A. Atitsogbe, Itziar Alonso‐Arbiol, Magdalena Bobowik, Ronald Fischer, Venzislav Jordanov, Stefanos Mastrotheodoros, Félix Neto, Yael Ponizovsky, Jochen Reb, Samantha Sim, Laurent Sovet, Delia Ștefenel, Angela Oktavia Suryani, Ergyul Tair, Arnaud Villieux,

Psychology of Moral and Emotional Judgment

This article investigated the dimensionality, measurement invariance, and cross-cultural variations of social desirability. A total of 3,471 university students from 20 countries completed an adapted version of the Marlowe–Crowne scale. A two-dimensional structure was revealed in the pooled sample, distinguishing enhancement (endorsement of positive self-description) and denial (rejection of negative self-description). The factor structure was supported in most countries; medium-sized item bias was found in two denial items. In a multilevel analysis, we found that (a) there was more cross-cultural variation in denial than enhancement; (b) females tended to score higher on enhancement whereas males tended to score higher on denial; (c) the Human Development Index, an indicator of country socioeconomic development, was the best (negative) predictor of denial; and (d) both enhancement and denial seemed to be associated with country-level values and personality pertinent to “fitting in.” We conclude that social desirability has a positive and a negative impression management dimension that are meaningfully associated with country-level characteristics, and we argue that social desirability is better interpreted as culturally regulated response amplification.