Proactive Coping with Occupational Impostorism: A Self-Regulation Perspective

Impostorism, also known as the impostor phenomenon or impostor syndrome, is a pervasive experience that is characterised by feelings of fraudulence and has been associated with a range of negative organisational and individual outcomes. However, previous research has disregarded several issues pertaining to conceptualisation, measurement, and coping. Thus, this research provides a refined conceptualisation and measurement for the construct Occupational Impostorism (OI). Embedded in a self-regulation framework, this research seeks to investigate how employees cope with their OI experience through proactive behaviours. Firstly, employing a rigorous scale development process, the 7-item Occupational Impostorism Scale was developed. In empirical Study 1, a time-lagged study design with an online sample of 252 individuals was used to investigate whether individuals engage in proactive information seeking and self-improvement feedback seeking to cope with and reduce OI over time. The results showed that individuals engage in both behaviours, but only proactive information seeking led to a decrease in OI over time. Moreover, this relationship was moderated by individuals’ job growth mindset – only those holding a stronger job growth mindset showed a decrease of OI. Study 2 extended the previously tested model. Utilizing an
online sample of 198 management consultants, the results showed that role clarity facilitates the relationship between information seeking and a decrease of OI over time. The proposed mechanism learning behaviours did not mediate the relationship between self-improvement feedback seeking and a decrease of OI. This research makes several theoretical, conceptual, empirical and practical contributions. It firstly provides a clear conceptualisation and measurement of OI through the application of self-regulation theory. Applying time-lagged designs, this research further highlights that OI can be successfully reduced over time through engaging in proactive behaviours. In terms of practical implications, this research provides insights for organisations on how to support employees experiencing OI.