Responses to Deception in the Workplace: Perceptions of Credibility, Power, and Trustworthiness

Abstract

This study examined full-time employees' perceptions of a coworker's credibility, power, and trustworthiness after the coworker engaged in organizational deception or truth-telling. Participants read one of three scenarios, each of which differed in the type of message (honest, withholding deceptive, distortion deceptive) the coworker communicated. Participants then evaluated the coworker's credibility, power, and trustworthiness. Results indicated that organizational members perceived the coworker as more competent, of high character, more powerful, and more trustworthy when the coworker told the truth versus deceived. Organizational members also considered the coworker to be higher in competence, character, expert power, and referent power when the coworker deceived through withholding versus distorting information. It appears that although honesty may be the best policy in the organization, all forms of deception are not equally destructive.

Keywords:

• Credibility
• Deception
• Leader Member Exchange
• Power
• Trust

This manuscript is based on research conducted by the first and third authors in fulfillment of a graduate level course at West Virginia University, under the direction of the second author. An earlier version of this manuscript was presented to the Organizational Communication Division of the National Communication Association at its annual meeting in Chicago, November 2007.

Notes

Note. Comparisons are horizontal only. Means with no subscripts in common differ at a statistically significant level according to Scheffé post hoc tests.

N = 192 for trustworthiness analyses.

∗p < .05. ∗∗p < .0001.

Initially age, sex, annual income, and length of employment were entered as covariates in all analyses. However, because these covariates did not produce statistically significant differences in perceptions they were removed from the final analyses and report of results.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Katie Neary Dunleavy

Katie Neary Dunleavy (PhD, West Virginia University, 2007) is an Assistant Professor in the Communication Department at La Salle University.

Rebecca M. Chory

Rebecca M. Chory (PhD, Michigan State University, 2000) is an Associate Professor in the Department of Communication Studies at West Virginia University.

Alan K. Goodboy

Alan K. Goodboy (PhD, West Virginia University, 2007) is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Communication Studies at Bloomsburg University.