R M B www.irmbrjournal.com September 2016 R International Review of Management and Business Research Vol. 5 Issue.3 I Impression Management and Its Interaction with Emotional Intelligence and Locus of Control: Two-Sample Investigation TAREK A. EL BADAWY Assistant Professor of Management, Auburn University at Montgomery, Alabama. Email:
[email protected] ISIS GUTIÉRREZ-MARTÍNEZ Universidad de las Américas Puebla, Santa Catarina Mártir S/N. Email:
[email protected] MARIAM M. MAGDY Research Associate, German University in Cairo, Egypt. Email:
[email protected] Abstract The art of self-presentation is inherently important for exploration. Tight markets and fierce competition force employees to think about presenting themselves in the best way that ensures their continuous employment. In this study, an attempt was made to compare between employees of Mexico and Egypt with regard to the types of impression management strategies they use. Interactions between impression management, emotional intelligence and locus of control were also investigated. Several significant insights were reached using the Mann-Whitney U test. Further analyses, implications and future research recommendations are provided. Key Words: Self-Presentation; Emotions; Perception; Comparative Study; Middle East; Latin America. Introduction Impression management or the technique of self-presentation was the term first introduced by Goffman in the 1950s. Impression management is the individual’s attempt to manipulate how others see him/her as if the individual is an actor on stage trying to convey a certain character to the spectators. Originally a construct in Psychology, scholars of organizational behaviour adopted it in their pursuit to understand the different complicated relationships between employees in organizations (Ashford and Northcraft, 1992; Leary and Kowalski, 1990).