Cited by 2,340Survey Methodology and NonresponsePsychometric Methodologies and TestingSurvey Sampling and Estimation Techniques

The DOI matches its Crossref record; 2 of the 2 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.

Methods of coping with social desirability bias: A review

Nederhof, Anton J.·1985·European Journal of Social Psychology

DOI 10.1002/ejsp.2420150303

Open this paper in CoChat — free account

Abstract

Social desirability is one of the most common sources of bias affecting the validity of experimental and survey research findings. From a self‐presentational perspective, social desirability can be regarded as the resultant of two separate factors: self‐deception and other‐deception. Two main modes of coping with social desirability bias are distinguished. The first mode comprises two methods aimed at the detection and measurement of social desirability bias: the use of social desirability scales, and the rating of item desirability. A second category comprises seven methods to prevent or reduce social desirability bias, including the use of forced‐choice items, the randomized response technique, the bogus pipeline, self‐administration of the questionnaire, the selection of interviewers, and the use of proxy subjects. Not one method was found to excel completely and under all conditions in coping with both other‐deceptive and self‐deceptive social desirability bias. A combination of prevention and detection methods offers the best choice available.

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1002/ejsp.2420150303

Cites

0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Recomputing p-values needs the paper’s full text.

Claims the paper makes

This paper’s full text isn’t openly available, so its claims and self-check weren’t run. The registry and citation checks still apply.

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

A new scale of social desirability independent of psychopathology.
Crowne, D. P., & Marlowe, D. (1960) · Journal of Consulting Psychology · doi:10.1037/h0047358 · Cited by 8,686
Two-component models of socially desirable responding.
Paulhus, D. L. (1984) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/0022-3514.46.3.598 · Cited by 3,013

Flagged first, then by citations

Show all 0 references

Research works printed but not linked: 103

10.1016/0092-6566(83)90062-4 · DOI
10.1007/978-3-322-88724-5 · DOI
Barber T. X., 1976, Pitfalls in Human Research: Ten Pivotal Points
10.1037/0033-2909.91.1.3 · DOI
Berg I. A., 1967, Response Set in Personality Assessment
Blake B. F., 1971, Evaluation apprehension and subject bias in experiments, Journal of Experimental Research in Personality, 5, 57
Block J. M., 1965, The Challenge of Response Set: Unfounding Meaning, Acquiescence. and Social Desirability in the MMPI
10.1037/0033-2909.96.1.166 · DOI
Bradburn N. M., 1979, Improving Interview Methods and Questionnaire Design
10.1086/268444 · DOI · Paper page
Brigham J. C., 1974, Attitude measurement via the bogus pipeline: A dry well?, Representative Research in Social Psychology, 5, 97
Campbell D. T., 1966, Experimental and Quasi‐Experimental Designs for Research
Cohen J., 1975, Applied Multiple Regression/Correlation Analysis for the Behavioral Sciences
Cook T. D., 1979, Quasi‐Experimentation
10.1177/004912417600400305 · DOI
10.1037/h0023891 · DOI
10.1177/001316445001000101 · DOI
Crowne D. P., 1964, The Approval Motive: Studies in Evaluative Dependence
Dickensberger D., 1978, Bedürfnis nach sozialer anerkennung: validierung der Marlowe‐Crowne Social Desirability Scale über ein konzept individuell relevanter gruppen, Diagnostica, 24, 24
Dillman D. A., 1978, Mail and Telephone Surveys: The Total Design Method
10.1086/267676 · DOI
10.1086/267624 · DOI
10.1177/0049124182011001005 · DOI
10.1037/h0058073 · DOI
Edwards A. L., 1957, The Social Desirability Variable in Personality and Assessment and Research
Edwards A. L., 1970, The Measurement of Personality Traits by Scales and Inventories
10.1177/001316446202200307 · DOI
10.2307/255979 · DOI
Goffman E., 1959, The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life
10.1086/268250 · DOI
10.1086/226466 · DOI
10.2466/pr0.1970.27.1.131 · DOI
10.1037/0022-3514.37.2.147 · DOI
Hermans H., 1967, Motivatie en Prestatie
10.1037/0022-3514.43.4.710 · DOI
Humm D. G., 1939, The Humm‐Wadsworth Temperament Scale
Hyman H. H., 1954, Interviewing in Social Research
Jackson D. N., 1967, Personality Research Form Manual
10.1037/h0031617 · DOI
10.1037/0033-2909.85.3.555 · DOI
10.1037/h0076863 · DOI
Kuder G. F., 1939, Preference Record
Lana R. E., 1969, Artifact in Behavioral Research
10.1080/00223980.1976.9921389 · DOI
Locander W., 1976, An investigation of interview methods, threat, and response distortion, Journal of the American Statistical Association, 71, 269, 10.1080/01621459.1976.10480332 · DOI
10.1037/0022-3514.45.3.641 · DOI
10.2307/2987631 · DOI
10.1037/0022-3514.43.2.293 · DOI
10.1037/0022-006X.51.6.882 · DOI
McGuire W. J., 1969, Artifact in Behavioral Research
10.1037/h0053634 · DOI
Messick S., 1968, Response sets’. In:, International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences, 13, 492
10.2307/2095089 · DOI
10.1016/0092-6566(74)90028-2 · DOI
10.1016/0092-6566(80)90003-3 · DOI
Millham J., 1978, Dimensions of Personality
Nederhof A. J., 1981, Beter Onderzoek. Bestrijding van Foutenbronnen in Sociaal‐Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek
10.1086/268770 · DOI
10.1080/00224545.1984.9713482 · DOI
Nederhof A. J., 1985, Artifact in Social Science Research: Coping With Sources of Error in Data Collection
10.1002/ejsp.2420130305 · DOI
Nunnally J. C., 1978, Psychometric Theory
Orne M. T., 1973, Communication and Affect: Language and Thought
10.1037/h0033861 · DOI
10.1016/0092-6566(81)90035-0 · DOI
10.1037/0022-3514.43.4.838 · DOI
Phillips D. L., 1971, Knowledge from What?
Phillips D. L., 1973, Abandoning Method
10.2307/2092992 · DOI
10.1086/225231 · DOI
10.1037/0022-3514.36.3.247 · DOI
10.1207/s15327752jpa4405_11 · DOI
10.1080/00224545.1981.9711664 · DOI
10.1086/268267 · DOI
10.1037/h0021888 · DOI
Rosenberg M. J., 1969, Artifact in Behavioral Research
Rosenthal R., 1976, Experimenter Effects in Behavioral Research
Rosenthal R., 1969, Artifact in Behavioral Research
Rosenthal R., 1975, The Volunteer Subject
10.1016/0022-1031(73)90009-7 · DOI
Sackeim H. A., 1978, Consciousness and Self‐regulation. Advances in Research and Theory
Sackeim H. A., 1979, Self‐deception, other‐deception, and self‐reported psychopathology, Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 47, 213, 10.1037/0022-006X.47.1.213 · DOI
Schuessler K. F., 1982, Measuring Social Life Feelings
10.2307/3033559 · DOI
10.1037/h0040089 · DOI
Scott W. A., 1968, The Handbook of Social Psychology
10.1111/j.2044-8260.1974.tb00873.x · DOI
10.1037/h0030839 · DOI
10.1037/0033-2909.92.2.487 · DOI
Stocking C., 1979, Improving Interview Methods and Questionnaire Design
Strickland B. R., 1977, Personality Variables in Social Behavior
Sudman S., 1974, Response Effects in Surveys
10.2307/2094978 · DOI
10.1080/01621459.1965.10480775 · DOI
10.1037/h0032351 · DOI
10.1086/267650 · DOI
Weiss C. H., 1969, Interviewer biasing effects: toward a reconciliation of findings, Public Opinion Quarterly, 33, 127
Weiss C. H.(1970). ‘Interaction in the research interview: the effects of rapport on response’. In: Proceedings of the Social Statistics Section American Statistical Association 17–20.
10.1016/S0065-2601(08)60252-X · DOI · Paper page
10.1037/h0047823 · DOI
10.1086/267606 · DOI
10.1086/267762 · DOI
10.1086/267981 · DOI

Sorted by citations

Items 901–1,000 of 1,003

Racial/Ethnic Differences in Cost-Related Nonadherence and Medicare Part D: A Longitudinal Comparison
Bakk, L. (2015) · Journal of Health Care for the Poor and Underserved · doi:10.1353/hpu.2015.0113 · Cited by 13
Music Therapists' Research Activity and Utilization Barriers: A Survey of the Membership
Waldon, E. G. (2015) · Journal of Music Therapy · doi:10.1093/jmt/thv001 · Cited by 16
“While it is unlikely that research of this nature will ever be free of this self-report bias, future study may employ any number of techniques discussed by Nederhof (1985), including forced-choice items or inclusion of social desirability scales.”
Method
Exploring the social, emotional and behavioural development of preschool children: is Glasgow different?
Marryat, L., Thompson, L. C., Minnis, H., & Wilson, P. (2015) · International Journal for Equity in Health · doi:10.1186/s12939-014-0129-8 · Cited by 13
“the wish to present oneself or one’s family in a desirable light [48], is another potential issue in survey research, particularly with parents.”
Background
Perceptions of Psychology as a Science among University Students: The Influence of Psychology Courses and Major of Study
Bartels, J., Hinds, R. M., Glass, L. A., & Ryan, J. J. (2009) · Psychological Reports · doi:10.2466/pr0.105.2.383-388 · Cited by 13
“…a Science scores, consistent with results of numerous studies in personality research suggesting a tendency toward presenting oneself in a socially desirable light (for a review see Nederhof, 1985), but inconsistent with previous research using the Psychology as a Science measure (Friedrich, 1996).”
BackgroundResult
Crooked Views and Relaxed Rules: How Teenage Boys Experience Parents’ Handling of Digital Gaming
Meriläinen, M. (2021) · Media and Communication · doi:10.17645/mac.v9i1.3193 · Cited by 20
“In addition, there is the potential for social desirability bias to be present (see Nederhof, 1985).”
Background
Similarity-attraction theory perspective on service employees and service robots’ interactions
Yang, H., Song, H., Wang, Y.-C., & Ma, E. (2025) · Service Industries Journal · doi:10.1080/02642069.2025.2485972 · Cited by 12
“For example, a ‘social desirability’ scale could be included in the online survey to test the relationships between social desirability and other constructs in the framework (Nederhof, 1985).”
Exploring the Privacy and Security Challenges Faced by Migrant Domestic Workers in Chinese Smart Homes
He, S.-J., Zhan, X., Lei, Y., Liu, Y., Abu-Salma, R., & Such, J. M. (2025) · International Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems · doi:10.1145/3706598.3713616 · Cited by 12
“Additionally, our research relies on self-reported data, which is shaped by participants’ perceptions, memories, and interpretations, potentially introducing biases such as social desirability bias [90], where participants might adjust their responses to appear more favorable.”
The Link between the Perception of Animal Welfare and the Emotional Response to Pictures of Farm Animals Kept in Intensive and Extensive Husbandry Systems: An Italian Survey
Riggio, G., Angori, E., Menchetti, L., & Diverio, S. (2023) · Veterinary Sciences · doi:10.3390/vetsci10110652 · Cited by 14
“Despite its limitations, this study provides new important information to understand the link between people’s perception of animal welfare, their emotional response to farm animal husbandry, and their attitude as consumers of food products.”
Background
A performance-based test to measure teachers’ mathematics and science content and pedagogical knowledge
Mohammadpour, E., & Maroofi, Y. (2023) · Heliyon · doi:10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e13932 · Cited by 16
“Studies revealed that getting an accurate measure of teacher’s knowledge, skills, and abilities is difficult because of the phenomenon of socially desirable responding, the tendency to respond to self-reporting questionnaire items in a way that is more socially acceptable [15], and the tendency to provide overly optim…”
Background
Underrepresented in medicine students’ perspectives on impactful medical education
Bazargan‐Hejazi, S., Manriquez, J. A. N., McDermoth-Grimes, M., Parra, E. A., & Prothrow‐Stith, D. (2022) · BMC Medical Education · doi:10.1186/s12909-022-03983-7 · Cited by 12
“However, to minimize this limitation, the medical student interviewer was trained to balance the power dynamic, stay task-oriented, and obtain well-rounded input [92].”
Motivating members’ involvement to effectually conduct collaborative software process tailoring
Lee, J.-C., & Chen, C.-Y. (2022) · Empirical Software Engineering · doi:10.1007/s10664-022-10225-3 · Cited by 12
“Additionally, CMB may occur because of social desirability bias (Nederhof 1985; Ralph 2018).”
BackgroundMethod
Measuring Support for Women’s Political Leadership
Sundström, A., & Stockemer, D. (2022) · Public Opinion Quarterly · doi:10.1093/poq/nfac031 · Cited by 12
“In detail, processes of social desirability generally reflect people’s propensity to “deny socially undesirable traits and to claim socially desirable ones, and the tendency to say things which place the speaker in a favorable light” (Nederhof 1985, p. 264).”
Background
Assessment of the willingness of dentists in the state of Indiana to administer vaccines
Shukla, A., Welch, K., & Villa, A. (2022) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0267167 · Cited by 14
Consumer fear and healthy eating during COVID-19 pandemic
Campos, P. D. O., de Mélo, L. B., Veras, J. C., de Santana, P. N., Matte, J., & da Costa, M. F. (2021) · Marketing Intelligence & Planning · doi:10.1108/mip-04-2021-0125 · Cited by 17
Effectiveness of customised safety intervention programmes to increase the safety culture of hospital staff
Wong, S.-Y., Fu, A., Han, J., Lin, J., & Lau, M.-C. (2021) · BMJ Open Quality · doi:10.1136/bmjoq-2020-000962 · Cited by 12
“While it is posited that the present study applied different interventional strategies and initiatives to promote safety culture, future research should also assess any potential impacts, such as the structure and extent of our hospital safety improvement programmes and the available resources or…”
Proximal and distal antecedents of problematic information technology use in organizations
Pirkkalainen, H., Tarafdar, M., Salo, M., & Makkonen, M. (2021) · Internet Research · doi:10.1108/intr-02-2021-0083 · Cited by 18
Intergroup biologization and outgroup prejudice in the time of COVID‐19
Valtorta, R. R., Baldissarri, C., Volpato, C., & Andrighetto, L. (2021) · Journal of Applied Social Psychology · doi:10.1111/jasp.12831 · Cited by 11
“However, it should be noted that our measure assessed the association between the target and dehumanized perceptions using a self- report measure, which may have been affected by the participants’ desirability concerns (e.g., Crowne & Marlowe, 1964; Nederhof, 1985).”
Background
Clinician Use of HIV-Related Infographics During Clinic Visits in the Dominican Republic is Associated with Lower Viral Load and Other Improvements in Health Outcomes
Stonbraker, S., Liu, J., Sanabria, G., George, M., Amesty, S. C., Alcántara, C., Abraído‐Lanza, A. F., Halpern, M., Rowell‐Cunsolo, T. L., Henry, S. B., et al. (2021) · AIDS and Behavior · doi:10.1007/s10461-021-03331-8 · Cited by 15
Muffled Voices from Thai Pre-Service Teachers: Challenges and Difficulties during Teaching Practicum
Imsa-ard, P., Wichamuk, P., & Chuanchom, C. (2021) · Shanlax International Journal of Education · doi:10.34293/education.v9i3.3989 · Cited by 12
Keeping a keen edge: Social support among new venture team members and venture goal commitment
Chen, Y., & Klyver, K. (2021) · Journal of Small Business Management · doi:10.1080/00472778.2021.1883040 · Cited by 12
“However, further studies are encouraged to use both detection and prevention methods to further reduce social desirability bias (Nederhof, 1985).”
Background
Returns to effort: experimental evidence from an online language platform
Ersoy, F. Y. (2020) · Experimental Economics · doi:10.1007/s10683-020-09689-1 · Cited by 12
“However, self-reports can contain substantive reporting error (Stinebrick-ner and Stinebrickner 2004) and can suffer from social desirability bias (Nederhof 1985; Furnham 1986).”
Background
How Informal Exchanges Impact Formal Sourcing Collaboration (and What Supply Managers Can Do about It)
Lu, J., Kaufmann, L., & Carter, C. R. (2020) · Journal of Supply Chain Management · doi:10.1111/jscm.12241 · Cited by 17
An Interview-Based Approach to Assess Angler Practices and Sea Turtle Captures on Mississippi Fishing Piers
Cook, M., Dunch, V. S., & Coleman, A. (2020) · Frontiers in Marine Science · doi:10.3389/fmars.2020.00655 · Cited by 12
Behavioral Economics for Human-in-the-Loop Control Systems Design: Overconfidence and the Hot Hand Fallacy
Protte, M., Fahr, R., & Quevedo, D. E. (2020) · IEEE Control Systems · doi:10.1109/mcs.2020.3019723 · Cited by 17
Building cohesion in distributed telemedicine teams: findings from the Department of Veterans Affairs National Telestroke Program
Patel, H., Damush, T. M., Miech, E. J., Rattray, N. A., Martin, H., Savoy, A., Plue, L. D., Anderson, J. E., Martini, S. R., Graham, G. D., et al. (2021) · BMC Health Services Research · doi:10.1186/s12913-021-06123-x · Cited by 14
Crisis, State Legitimacy, and Political Participation in a Non-Democracy: How Qatar Withstood the 2017 Blockade
Gengler, J., & Al-Khelaifi, B. A. (2019) · The Middle East Journal · doi:10.3751/73.3.13 · Cited by 12
Ratio estimation of the mean under RRT models
Zhang, Q., Gupta, S., Kalucha, G., & Khalil, S. (2019) · doi:10.1080/09720510.2018.1533513 · Cited by 12
“Fear-of-the-State Bias” in Survey Data
Zimbalist, Z. (2017) · International Journal of Public Opinion Research · doi:10.1093/ijpor/edx020 · Cited by 29
Business ecosystems and new venture business models: an exploratory study of participation in the Lead To Win job-creation engine
Muegge, S. M., & Mezen, M. (2017) · International Journal of Technology Management · doi:10.1504/ijtm.2017.10006162 · Cited by 14
“Our rationale was two-fold: to encourage greater disclosure of information about new venture business models, and to reduce the threat of social desirability bias (Nederhof, 1985) that might otherwise favour positive reports by respondents.”
Background
How Well Do We Know Our Inner Daredevil? Probing the Relationship Between Self‐Report and Behavioral Measures of Risk Taking
Rolison, J. J., & Pachur, T. (2016) · Journal of Behavioral Decision Making · doi:10.1002/bdm.1979 · Cited by 12
“Individuals may also envision negative 26 consequences of admitting to risky behaviors, motivating them to moderate their responses to 27 comply with perceived social norms (Nederhof, 1985; Fisher, 1993).”
Background
Cardiovascular Health Literacy and Treatment Adherence in Persons with Serious Mental Illness
Rose, L. E., Sawyer, A. L., & Everett, A. S. (2014) · Issues in Mental Health Nursing · doi:10.3109/01612840.2013.843622 · Cited by 12
“Additionally, scales are available that measure the effects of SDB, as are strategies approaches to reduce SDB through item construction, selection of the interviewer, and others (Nederhof, 1985).”
BackgroundMethod
Inclusion in a South African high school? Reporting and reflecting on what learners say
Walton, E. (2012) · International Journal of Inclusive Education · doi:10.1080/13603116.2012.742577 · Cited by 11
“…though, the focus group may be limited in that respondents may seek to project socially desirable traits and say things that present themselves in a favourable light (Nederhof 1985) as removing anonymity increases the pressure to respond in ways that would be socially acceptable (Fisher 1993).”
Background
In-Home Mental Health Treatment for Individuals with HIV
Reif, S., Pence, B. W., LeGrand, S., Wilson, E., Swartz, M. S., Ellington, T., & Whetten, K. (2012) · AIDS Patient Care and STDs · doi:10.1089/apc.2012.0242 · Cited by 13
The Capacity of Locally Bound Tourism Firms to Respond to Climate Variability and Long-Term Change: Qualitative Case Studies on Organizational Learning in the Austrian Winter Tourism Sector
Helgenberger, S. (2011) · doi:10.1080/21568316.2011.554042 · Cited by 12
“In order to reduce the social desirability bias (Nederhof, 1985) in the interview partners’ (IP) answers, IPs have been asked very generally about current challenges, projects and strategies for their businesses.”
Background
Toward Understanding Ethical Decision Making: A Redefined Measure of Intent to Act Ethically
Johnson, J., & Coyle, T. (2010) · International Journal of Strategic Decision Sciences · doi:10.4018/jsds.2010100102 · Cited by 12
Exploratory Effects of Social Support, Stress and Locus of Control on the Conflict Tactics of Parents At-Risk for Child Maltreatment
Spicer, S. J., & Franklin, C. (1995) · Journal of Social Service Research · doi:10.1300/j079v19n03_01 · Cited by 12
ORGANIZATIONAL SOCIAL CUES, FRAMING, AND JUSTICE: EFFECTS ON MANAGEMENT'S ETHICAL DECISIONS
Bailey, J. J., & Alexander, R. A. (1993) · The International Journal of Organizational Analysis · doi:10.1108/eb028786 · Cited by 10
“First, as noted by Fernandes and Randall, several studies have found that there is less SD bias error when anonymity is assured (Bradburn, Sudman, & Associates, 1979; Nederhof, 1985; Wiseman, 1972).”
Background
A Systemic Approach to Evaluating the Organizational Agility in Large-Scale Companies
Gogichaty, M., Ivanov, V., Kruglov, A., Pedrycz, W., Samatova, A., Succi, G., & Valeev, R. (2023) · IEEE Access · doi:10.1109/access.2023.3234424 · Cited by 12
“The interviewing process should be organized in a way to minimize the risk of a researcher or respondents’ bias [57], [58], [59].”
Background
Control In Agile IS Development Projects: Looking Beyond Agency Theory
Virag, P. (2020) · CENTERIS/ProjMAN/HCist · doi:10.1016/j.procs.2021.01.093 · Cited by 12
“Using business analysts as proxy subjects was one way to avoid this bias [37].”
Background
Quality of Life Perceptions in School-Going Adolescents with Social Anxiety
Farooq, S. A., Muneeb, A., Ajmal, W., Tauni, M. A., Mahmood, S., Qadri, S. K. S., Butt, A. Y., Mustafa, S. F., Sohail, S. H., & Rizvi, N. (2017) · Journal of Childhood & Developmental Disorders · doi:10.4172/2472-1786.100046 · Cited by 11
HRM as a strategic business partner: The contributions of strategic agility, knowledge management and management development in multinational enterprises – empirical insights from India
Ananthram, S. (2016) · Elsevier eBooks · doi:10.1016/b978-0-08-100643-6.00005-1 · Cited by 12
Norms within Networks: Opinion Leader and Peer Network Influences on Mothers/Caregivers' Childhood Immunization Decisions in Rural Northern Nigeria
Goldberg, A. B. (2014) · doi:10.7916/d84m92jw · Cited by 12
“To help reduce social desirability bias and ensure free and frank answers to immunization questions, interviewers were trained to develop a good rapport with the mothers/caregivers and to reiterate that their responses would remain confidential (Nederhof, 1985).”
Background
Double Rating as a Method to Encourage Candid Responses to Self‐Report Instruments1
Hui, C. (2001) · Journal of Applied Social Psychology · doi:10.1111/j.1559-1816.2001.tb02479.x · Cited by 12
Bringing Choice Architecture to Architecture and Engineering Decisions: How the Redesign of Rating Systems Can Improve Sustainability
Shealy, T., Klotz, L., Weber, E. U., Johnson, E. J., & Bell, R. G. (2019) · Journal of Management in Engineering · doi:10.1061/(asce)me.1943-5479.0000692 · Cited by 11
“Participants may have been susceptible to social desirability bias (Nederhof 1985), meaning setting higher sustainability goals than they otherwise would have to provide answers that align with the training content.”
Background
Sustainable employability and work outcomes: a prospective study
Gürbüz, S., Bakker, A. B., Joosen, M. C. W., Noordik, E., Kok, R. N., Penders, G. B. S., & Brouwers, E. P. M. (2024) · BMC Public Health · doi:10.1186/s12889-024-20576-9 · Cited by 21
Humble leader, successful follower: Linking leader humility with follower career outcomes via leader competence from an implicit leadership theory perspective
Zhong, J., Ma, C., Chen, Z. X., Zhang, L., & Zhang, X. (2024) · Journal of Vocational Behavior · doi:10.1016/j.jvb.2024.104060 · Cited by 14
Understanding Online Discussion Across Difference: Insights from Gun Discourse on Reddit
Magu, R., Kumar, N. M., Liu, Y., Koo, X., Yang, D., & Bruckman, A. S. (2024) · Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction · doi:10.1145/3686943 · Cited by 7
“While issues around social desirability bias [72] in interview responses cannot be fully discounted (see Section 6 on limitations), the findings point to the potential for designing new spaces for cross-ideology dialogue.”
BackgroundResult
Paths from simple game-targeted pro-environmental behaviors to more diverse pro-environmental behaviors: Empirical evidence from the Ant Forest app
Tian, Y., & Qin, C. (2024) · Journal of Environmental Management · doi:10.1016/j.jenvman.2024.121976 · Cited by 14
I want to, not I have to: The double-edged sword effect of green involvement on employee green creativity
Tang, G., Zhang, S., & Chen, M. (2024) · Journal of Environmental Psychology · doi:10.1016/j.jenvp.2024.102371 · Cited by 11
Demand reduction campaigns could reduce the domestic trade in illegal wildlife in Peru
Moorhouse, T. P., Elwin, A., & D'Cruze, N. (2024) · Biological Conservation · doi:10.1016/j.biocon.2024.110458 · Cited by 11
Sustainability reporting: How consistency and interdependence in financial and managerial accounting enhance eco‐controls
Varma, A., Mancini, D., & Kaushik, S. (2024) · Journal of Public Affairs · doi:10.1002/pa.2910 · Cited by 12
Speaking truth to power … or to the Ivory tower? Public affairs researchers’ reports of practitioners’ use of their research
Bozeman, B. L., Lindsay, S., Nelson, J. P., & Bretschneider, S. I. (2023) · Public Management Review · doi:10.1080/14719037.2023.2252819 · Cited by 12
“There is some likelihood that this percentage is somewhat inflated by socially desirable response artefacts (Nederhof 1985) since some respondents may inflate the use of their work.”
Beyond vulnerability: contextualizing migrant worker views on rights and wellbeing in the Gulf Arab states
Ewers, M. C., Diop, A., Duma, N., & Lê, K. (2023) · Comparative Migration Studies · doi:10.1186/s40878-023-00344-1 · Cited by 11
“All survey-based research methods need to account for the problems of social desirability bias and mitigate this bias as much as possible (e.g., Krumpal, 2013; Nederhof, 1985).”
Background
Effects of Perceived Productivity on Study Effort Evidence from a Field Experiment
Ersoy, F. Y. (2023) · Social Science Research Network · doi:10.2139/ssrn.3253978 · Cited by 11
“contain substantive reporting error (Stinebrickner and Stinebrickner, 2004) and can be biased due to social desirability bias (Nederhof, 1985; Furnham, 1986).”
Background
Teacher agency in the professional community and association with burnout: a longitudinal person-centred approach
Sullanmaa, J., Pyhältö, K., Pietarinen, J., & Soini, T. (2023) · Research Papers in Education · doi:10.1080/02671522.2023.2178028 · Cited by 13
Beyond tingles: An exploratory qualitative study of the Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response (ASMR)
Trenholm-Jensen, E. A., Burns, L., Trenholm, J., & Hand, C. J. (2022) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0277962 · Cited by 21
The Unintended Consequences of Confinement: Evidence From the Rural Area in GuatemalaPreprint
Castillo, J., & Hernandez, M. A. (2022) · Social Science Research Network · doi:10.2139/ssrn.4156693 · Cited by 11
Fellow cows and conflicting farmers: Public perceptions of dairy farming uncovered through frame analysis
Jackson, A., Green, M. J., & Kaler, J. (2022) · Frontiers in Veterinary Science · doi:10.3389/fvets.2022.995240 · Cited by 12
Human Personality Is Associated with Geographical Environment in Mainland China
Xu, L., Luo, Y., Wen, X., Sun, Z., Chao, C., Xia, T., & Xu, L. (2022) · International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health · doi:10.3390/ijerph191710819 · Cited by 17
“Social desirability and the tendency for people to present themselves in a generally favorable fashion [61] may have made the populations in mountainous areas more agreeable, enthusiastic, and kind-hearted.”
Background
Collaborative process tailoring in evolutionary software development: a teamwork-quality perspective
Chen, C.-Y., Hsu, P.-Y., & Vu, H.-N. (2022) · Software quality journal · doi:10.1007/s11219-022-09597-y · Cited by 11
“CMB may also occur because of the social desirability bias effect (Nederhof, 1985; Lee et al., 2021).”
Background
Managing climate change crisis events at the destination level
Prideaux, B. R., Thompson, M. A., Pabel, A., & Cassidy, L. (2021) · Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Management · doi:10.1016/j.jhtm.2021.10.006 · Cited by 13
Investigating the direct and indirect effects of perceived corporate hypocrisy on turnover intentions
Goswami, S., & Bhaduri, G. (2021) · Journal of Global Fashion Marketing · doi:10.1080/20932685.2021.1893782 · Cited by 12
“asking them to recall a bad experience that they had experienced recently as an employee of a retail corporation) ensured to control for any social desirability bias (Larson, 2019; Nederhof, 1985).”
Background
Millennials and the Future of Magazines: How the Generation of Digital Natives Will Determine Whether Print Magazines Survive
Bonner, E., & Roberts, C. (2021) · The journal of magazine media · doi:10.1353/jmm.2017.0015 · Cited by 11
Socio-demographic determinants of motorcycle speeding in Maha Sarakham, Thailand
Hong, V. X., Iwamoto, S. K., Goto, R., Young, S. D., Chomduangthip, S., Weeranakin, N., & Nishi, A. (2020) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0243930 · Cited by 12
“Social desirability bias is caused by respondents’ tendency to misreport behaviors in order to avoid being viewed negatively by others [52,53].”
Background
Fall Prevention Bingo: Effects of a Novel Community-based Education Tool on Older Adults Knowledge and Readiness to Reduce Risks for Falls
Flint, J., Morris, M., Nguyen, A., Keglovits, M., Somerville, E., Hu, Y.-L., & Stark, S. (2020) · doi:10.1080/19325037.2020.1822236 · Cited by 11
Tour Leading in South America: Job Inputs and Outcomes
Carrillo, B., Barbieri, C., Knollenberg, W., & Edwards, M. B. (2020) · Journal of Travel Research · doi:10.1177/0047287519880018 · Cited by 11
Do self-reported motivators really motivate higher performance?
Lourenço, S. M. (2020) · Management Accounting Research · doi:10.1016/j.mar.2019.100676 · Cited by 11
The influences of environmentalism and attitude towards physical activity on mode choice: The new evidences
Tran, Y., Yamamoto, T., & Sato, H. (2020) · Transportation Research Part A Policy and Practice · doi:10.1016/j.tra.2020.02.012 · Cited by 11
‘No, I cannot just walk away’: government career entrenchment in China
Chen, C., & Xu, C. (2020) · International Review of Administrative Sciences · doi:10.1177/0020852319884624 · Cited by 14
“Polite interaction and “good rapport” can reduce bias and help with accurate responses (Nederhof, 1985: 273).”
Evaluating The Virtues Project as a leadership development programme
Newstead, T., Dawkins, S., Macklin, R., & Martin, A. J. (2020) · Leadership · doi:10.1177/1742715019899845 · Cited by 17
“Various methods of detection and measures of social desirability have been developed, but none work absolutely nor under all conditions (Nederhof, 1985).”
BackgroundMethod
The influence of servant leadership on an organization’s serving-driven capabilities in a Kuwaiti bank environment
Riquelme, H. E., Rios, R. E., & Gadallah, A. S. (2019) · International Journal of Bank Marketing · doi:10.1108/ijbm-08-2019-0280 · Cited by 14
The reification of structural violence in video games
Denham, J., Hirschler, S. A., & Spokes, M. (2019) · Crime Media Culture An International Journal · doi:10.1177/1741659019881040 · Cited by 13
Effects of double-anonymity on pro- and anti-social behavior: Experimental evidence from a lab in the field
Vorlaufer, T. (2019) · Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics · doi:10.1016/j.socec.2019.07.001 · Cited by 11
An assessment of teaching and learning about sustainability across the higher education curriculum
Michel, J. (2019) · Environmental Education Research · doi:10.1080/13504622.2019.1607260 · Cited by 11
“ethical and moral topics, like sustainably (Cronbach & Meehl, 1955; Nederhof, 1985), and was likely evident in students’ attitudes, as they all reported very high.”
Background
When Evidence is not Taken for Granted: The Use and Perception of “Evidence” in the Czech Republic Ministries
Veselý, A., Ochrana, F., & Nekola, M. (2018) · NISPAcee Journal of Public Administration and Policy · doi:10.2478/nispa-2018-0020 · Cited by 11
“Th ere are several methods how to reduce the social desirability bias, e.g. by asking indirect questions (Nederhof 1985).”
Method
What a difference training can make: Impacts of targeted training on journalists, journalism educators and journalism students’ knowledge of Islam and Muslims
Ewart, J., O’Donnell, K., & Chrzanowski, A. (2018) · doi:10.1177/1464884917718659 · Cited by 11
“The combination of forced-choice questions, questions framed in neutral terms and questionnaires completed anonymously focused on reducing social desirability bias (Nederhof, 1985).”
Background
Association between attitudes towards Internet usage and health practices in high-school students in 2 schools in Turkey: a cross-sectional study
Kaya, N., Aştı, T. A., Kaya, I., Yaylaci, S., Kaya, H., Turan, N., & Aydın, G. Ö. (2016) · Eastern Mediterranean Health Journal · doi:10.26719/2016.22.11.824 · Cited by 12
“To reduce social desirability bias, a randomized response technique was used (16,17).”
Method
Self-reports of information seeking: Is social desirability in play?
Neuberger, L. (2016) · Atlantic Journal of Communication · doi:10.1080/15456870.2016.1208661 · Cited by 10
“Social desirability can be a characteristic of specific items, that is, there are some items that elicit more socially desirable answers than others (King & Bruner, 2000; Nederhof, 1985; Orne, 1969).”
Background
Implementing Role-Changing Versus Time-Changing Innovations in Health Care
Nembhard, I. M., Morrow, C. T., & Bradley, E. H. (2015) · Medical Care Research and Review · doi:10.1177/1077558715592315 · Cited by 10
“…questions to assess implementation allowed for data collection from a large number of hospitals while minimizing social desirability bias (Nederhof, 1985); the multi-item scale used for management engagement was reliable in this sample (Cronbach’s α = .82); and we found effects using…”
Method
Non-financial employment commitment: some correlates and a cross-national comparison
Snir, R. (2014) · doi:10.1108/ccm-10-2012-0091 · Cited by 11
Climate Change: Leveraging LegacyPreprint
Vandenbergh, M. P., & Toner, K. E. (2014) · SSRN Electronic Journal · doi:10.2139/ssrn.2397818 · Cited by 9
Parents’ satisfaction with repair of paediatric cleft lip/cleft palate in Honduras
Rivera, M. E., Hexem, K., Womer, J. W., Vinelli, E., & Feudtner, C. (2013) · Paediatrics and International Child Health · doi:10.1179/2046905513y.0000000056 · Cited by 11
Estimating Characteristics of the Foreign-Born by Legal Status: An Evaluation of Data and Methods
Judson, D., & Swanson, D. A. (2011) · doi:10.1007/978-94-007-1272-0 · Cited by 11
Journalism students: Left-wing and politically motivated?
Hopmann, D., Elmelund-Præstekær, C., & Levinsen, K. (2010) · Journalism · doi:10.1177/1464884910379706 · Cited by 11
“First, respondents might possibly answer according to what they think is socially desirable (cf. Nederhof, 1985).”
Background
Projective-Inventory: An Indigenous Approach to Personality Assessment
Puhan, B. N. (1995) · doi:10.1177/097133369500700202 · Cited by 11
Green Crowdfunding: An Empirical Study of Success Factors
Corsini, F., Appio, F. P., & Frey, M. (2024) · IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management · doi:10.1109/tem.2024.3381437 · Cited by 16
“To mitigate social desirability bias or the propensity for respondents to provide overly favorable responses, as indicated by Nederhof [86], the anonymity of survey participants was preserved.”
Background
“You Guys Should Offer the Program more Often!”: Some Perspectives from Working Alongside Immigrant and Refugee Families in a Bilingual Family Literacy Program
Anderson, J., Anderson, A., Friedrich, N., & Teichert, L. (2016) · International perspectives on early childhood education and development · doi:10.1007/978-981-10-2075-9_4 · Cited by 12
Knowing But Not Doing: Convergent Morality and Divergent Action in LLMs
Huang, J.-T., Qin, J., Qiu, X., Levy, S., Kaufman, M. R., & Dredze, M. (2026) · arXiv.org · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2601.07972 · Cited by 10
“In humans, self-report questionnaires often diverge from real-world behavior, as social desirability pressures (Grimm, 2010; Nederhof, 1985) and context-dependent reasoning (Skimina et al., 2019; Lee et al., 2022) can decouple what individuals claim to value from what they actually do.”
Reading in the age of influence: an analysis of the impact of BookTokers on book consumption intentions
da Silva, T. A. A., Bezerra, E. L. C., Silva, M. J. D. B., & Campos, P. D. O. (2025) · Social Network Analysis and Mining · doi:10.1007/s13278-025-01542-8 · Cited by 9
“Specifically, we divided the scales’ items into dif - ferent sections of the questionnaire, collected data through a self-report online questionnaire, and assured respondents’ anonymity (Nederhof 1985 ; Podsakoff et al. 2003 ).”
Privacy Perspectives and Practices of Chinese Smart Home Product Teams
He, S.-J., Lei, Y., Zhan, X., Zhang, C., Ye, J., Abu-Salma, R., & Such, J. M. (2025) · IEEE Symposium on Security and Privacy · doi:10.1109/sp63933.2026.00014 · Cited by 10
“Lastly, as with all self-reported data, our findings might be influenced by social desirability bias [77].”
Toward resilient urban environments: Transition pathways in nature-based solutions
Viljanen, A., Harju, C., Harmanen, J., Lähtinen, K., & Toppinen, A. (2025) · Futures · doi:10.1016/j.futures.2025.103595 · Cited by 10
A Credibility Revolution for Relationship Science: Where Can We Step Up Our Game?
Joel, S., Eastwick, P. W., & Khera, D. S. (2025) · Social and Personality Psychology Compass · doi:10.1111/spc3.70042 · Cited by 10
Theoretical framework of life circles in Chinese small towns and the optimization of spatial layout for public service facilities based on residents’ distance sensitivity
Wang, Y., Xie, H., Hua, Y., Jin, B., & Qiu, Z. (2024) · Humanities and Social Sciences Communications · doi:10.1057/s41599-024-04321-6 · Cited by 10
“Second, it may result from “ social desirability bias, ” where respondents align their answers with societal expectations (Nederhof, 1985).”
Developing a safety and health practices in building model of physical environment, facility management, and worker perception: Structural equation modeling approach
Juhari, M. L., Arifin, K., Aiyub, K., & Ismail, Z. S. (2024) · Heliyon · doi:10.1016/j.heliyon.2024.e40396 · Cited by 10
Retracted
The relationships between ethical codes of conduct, ethical supplier risks, and financial performance: a buyer-supplier perspective
Lau, A. K. W., Lee, P. K. C., & Cheng, T. C. E. (2024) · Production Planning & Control · doi:10.1080/09537287.2024.2359547 · Cited by 12
“Additional measures of social desirability bias can be adopted in the future (Nederhof 1985).”
Comparison of Patient Health Questionnaire-9, Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale and Hospital Anxiety and Depression – Depression subscale scores by administration mode: An individual participant data differential item functioning meta-analysis
Harel, D., Wu, Y., Levis, B., Fan, S., Sun, Y., Xu, M., Rice, D. B., Boruff, J. T., Markham, S., Ioannidis, J. P. A., et al. (2024) · Journal of Affective Disorders · doi:10.1016/j.jad.2024.06.033 · Cited by 11
Rebels with a cause? How norm violations shape dominance, prestige, and influence granting
Kleef, G. A. V., Wanders, F., Vianen, A. E. M. V., Dunham, R. L., Du, X., & Homan, A. C. (2023) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0294019 · Cited by 13
The relationship between Honesty-Humility and malevolent creativity: Sequential mediation models with prosocial moral emotional traits and prosocial tendencies
Fu, H., & Zhang, Z. (2023) · Current Psychology · doi:10.1007/s12144-023-04941-2 · Cited by 10
“In order to reduce the influence of social desirability, the instructions for each scale reminded participants that their participation was completely confidential and anonymous (Nederhof, 1985).”
Cyber Suraksha: a card game for smartphone security awareness
Shah, P. R., & Agarwal, A. (2023) · Information and Computer Security · doi:10.1108/ics-05-2022-0087 · Cited by 15
Echo chambers, polarization, and “Post-truth”: In search of a connection
Munroe, W. (2023) · Philosophical Psychology · doi:10.1080/09515089.2023.2174426 · Cited by 15
“Social-desirability bias can affect responses on explicit measures (Nederhof, 1985), and recent evidence suggests that some study participants may engage in expressive responding on political surveys, using surveys as a form of partisan cheer-leading in which they report attitudes they don’t…”

Authors: Nederhof, A. J.
Corresponding author: Nederhof, Anton J.
Venue: European Journal of Social Psychology
Publisher: Wiley
Published: 1985-07
Volume: 15
Issue: 3
Pages: 263-280
ISSN: 0046-2772 (ISSN-L)
1099-0992
DOI: 10.1002/ejsp.2420150303
OpenAlex: W2046622454
Cited by: 2,340
References: 0
Citations by year: 2026: 159 · 2025: 218 · 2024: 182 · 2023: 188 · 2022: 175 · 2021: 186 · 2020: 162 · 2019: 144 · 2018: 134 · 2017: 109 · 2016: 100 · 2015: 114 · 2014: 97 · 2013: 68 · 2012: 60
FWCI: 21.96
Type: journal article
Language: en
Open access: closed
Licence: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/termsAndConditions#vor (vor, 7541 d)
Locations: European Journal of Social Psychology (publishedVersion)
Topics: Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Survey Methodology and Nonresponse
Social Sciences › Decision Sciences › Management Science and Operations Research › Psychometric Methodologies and Testing
Physical Sciences › Mathematics › Statistics and Probability › Survey Sampling and Estimation Techniques
Keywords: social desirability bias, self-presentation, self-deception, Social Desirability Scale, randomized response, bogus pipeline, self-administered questionnaire, bias detection, bias prevention

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review

Methods of coping with social desirability bias: A review

Abstract

Overview

Integrity signals

Verification

Claims the paper makes

Claims other papers make about this one

Citations

Cites

Cited by

Metadata

Record

About these checks