Research in impression management has primarily examined how self-promotion affects one's image, neglecting the potential benefits of feedback on the underlying image that is being impression managed. This study bridges this gap by integrating impression management with social-cognitive theory to explore how self-promotion can enhance feedback from targets, thereby stimulating initiative-taking and proactive adaptation in the actor. Analyzing five-wave monthly survey data from 574 entrepreneurs, I find a positive relationship between self-promotion and experimentation, which positively associates with business-model adaptation. This indirect effect is observed exclusively among entrepreneurs confident in their capabilities, highlighting the critical role of self-efficacy. Furthermore, results from three scenario-based experiments demonstrate that higher levels of self-promotion elicit greater engagement from targets, with responses containing more constructive elements, such as ideas or concerns, thereby supporting my theory. My findings underscore the richer feedback generated from self-promotion, suggesting it plays a critical role in facilitating agentic behavior. This contributes to a more nuanced understanding of self-promotion's impact, proposing new avenues for future studies in impression management and entrepreneurship. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

中文翻译：

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创业中的自我推销：主动适应的驱动力。


印象管理的研究主要考察了自我推销如何影响一个人的形象，而忽视了对被印象管理的基础形象的反馈的潜在好处。本研究通过将印象管理与社会认知理论相结合来弥合这一差距，以探索自我推销如何增强目标的反馈，从而刺激行为者的主动性和主动适应能力。分析来自 574 名企业家的五波月度调查数据，我发现自我推销和实验之间存在正相关关系，这与商业模式适应呈正相关。这种间接效应仅在对自己的能力充满信心的企业家中观察到，突出了自我效能的关键作用。此外，三个基于情景的实验的结果表明，更高水平的自我推销会引起目标的更大参与度，回应包含更多建设性元素，例如想法或担忧，从而支持我的理论。我的研究结果强调了自我推销产生的更丰富的反馈，表明它在促进代理行为方面发挥着关键作用。这有助于对自我推销的影响有更细致的理解，为未来印象管理和创业的研究提出新的途径。（PsycInfo 数据库记录 （c） 2024 APA，保留所有权利）。