When Impressing Upward Pays Off: How Popularity and Hierarchy Shape Workplace Influence

What is it about?

This study examines how employees’ efforts to impress their organizational leaders—a behavior known as upward impression management—can help them become more influential among their peers. It focuses on how this influence emerges through workplace popularity, or the degree to which coworkers view someone as likable and respected. The study also investigates how employees’ social dominance orientation, or their belief in the legitimacy of power hierarchies, affects the strength of this process. Drawing on three-wave, multisource data from employees and their peers in Pakistani organizations, the findings show that employees who actively seek to present themselves favorably to their supervisors are also more likely to be admired and accepted by colleagues. This workplace popularity, in turn, allows them to exert greater influence over others. However, this effect is stronger for employees who naturally accept social hierarchies—they see impression management as a valid and effective way to gain standing in the workplace. For organizations, the findings show that upward impression management can boost employee influence but may also reinforce hierarchical norms favoring those adept at power dynamics. Managers should recognize that while such behavior can foster collaboration and morale, it risks perceptions of favoritism and inequality. Promoting transparency, team-based recognition, and fair leadership helps ensure influence stems from genuine contribution rather than strategic impression.

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Photo by Vitaly Gariev on Unsplash

Photo by Vitaly Gariev on Unsplash

Why is it important?

This study is unique in uncovering how impression management directed at leaders can indirectly increase peer influence by enhancing workplace popularity. It goes beyond prior research by integrating both a social mechanism (popularity) and a personal belief system (social dominance orientation) into the explanation, showing how individuals navigate power structures to gain influence within teams. Its timeliness lies in addressing how employees in Pakistan’s collectivistic, high power-distance workplaces strategically manage impressions to succeed in hierarchically structured organizations. As many modern workplaces continue to rely on informal influence and social capital, the findings underscore the importance of understanding when and how impression management can strengthen, or skew, the dynamics of workplace influence and cooperation.