CONSTRUCTION AND VALIDATION OF AN INSTRUMENT FOR MEASURING INGRATIATORY BEHAVIORS IN ORGANIZATIONAL SETTINGS

A measure of the frequency of employees' use of ingratiatory behavior at work was tested with a sample of employees (N = 716) working in a wide variety of organizations and jobs. Pilot testing reduced a 65-item pool to a 24-item instrument with four factors: Other Enhancement, Opinion Conformity, Self-Presentation, and Favor-Rendering. Internal consistency reliability was .92; test-retest reliability over one month was .73. Evidence for content, convergent, and discriminant validity was substantial. The Measure of Ingratiatory Behaviors in Organizational Settings (MIBOS) should enable researchers to focus on the empirical study of ingratiatory behaviors in organizations.