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The Social Desirability Variable in Organizational Research: An Alternative Explanation for Reported Findings

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... As a result, individuals' (self-)reports in terms of different concepts in the broad field of SSE research and beyond could be considered distorted. Thomas and Kilmann (1975) argue that this mechanism is expected to operate in any study in which ratings are used to assess variables with evaluative overtones. Until now, it is unknown to what extent SSE results and other self-reported measures in the context of SSE are affected by SDR. ...
... Although there is a debate on the extent to which SDR is a problem when using selfreport measures, Thomas and Kilmann (1975) argue that it is likely that SDR occurs in any context in which variables are measured with an evaluative overtone. When SSE is performed either in a developmental or in an accountability-oriented context, an evaluation aspect is involved, and implications on the validity of SSE results are to be expected. ...
... This might prompt respondents to depict the school favourably. Also, the evaluative aspect of the SSE might contribute to the occurrence of SDR in the reported SSE scores (Thomas & Kilmann, 1975). ...
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In order to enhance the quality of education, school self-evaluation (SSE) has become a key strategy in many educational systems. During an SSE process, schools describe and evaluate their own functioning, often by administering questionnaires among teachers. However, it is unknown to what extent SSE questionnaire results are distorted by respondents’ tendencies towards socially desirable responding and their motivation to fill in an SSE questionnaire. This study reports on a path analysis, performed on the results of an authentic SSE with 382 participants. Results indicate that socially desirable responding and motivation have indeed an impact on SSE results. However, the effects are differential and depend on the variable of interest. These findings can have serious implications, and should be taken into account when drawing conclusions and taking (school) policy decisions within the framework of an SSE process.
... It has already been demonstrated that these phenomena can cause bias in the information obtained from participants. This mechanism is especially likely to occur in a context dominated by an evaluative overtone (Thomas & Kilmann, 1975). ...
... Lastly, we used already established scales for operationalizing the construct of the current study, as the pre-existing scales have their pre-established reliability and validity. These steps are in line with the recommendation of Thomas and Kilmann (1975), Grimm (2010), and Elrofaie (2020). ...
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