Social psychologists conducted multiple studies with thousands of participants to examine authenticity at work. Social status was defined as how well liked someone is, and authenticity was quantified using previously developed measures. Experiments included Zoom conversations between strangers and manipulations such as being told one was selected for Employee of the Month, followed by writing about feelings. Results showed that increased social status raised both felt and expressed authenticity. Popularity and being well-liked strongly influence the ability to be authentic, and social status can rival self-esteem and exceed formal rank in importance for authenticity.
"Our findings suggest that social status may be as important as self-esteem in increasing authenticity, which is surprising," said Erica R. Bailey, a Ph.D. student who worked on the studies, said.
Carter said the experiments showed that social status increased "felt and expressed authenticity."
"This is interesting from a research standpoint because prior work would argue that formal rank (or power) is critically important for authenticity, but we find the story is a bit more complicated than that," Carter said.
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