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

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Methods of coping with social desirability bias: A review

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

DOI 10.1002/ejsp.2420150303

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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.

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Oh, O., Gupta, P., Agrawal, M., & Rao, H. (2018) · Government Information Quarterly · doi:10.1016/j.giq.2018.03.006 · Cited by 46
Implementing sustainability on a corporate and a functional level
Schneider, L., Wallenburg, C. M., & Fabel, S. (2014) · International Journal of Physical Distribution & Logistics Management · doi:10.1108/ijpdlm-05-2012-0160 · Cited by 43
A mixed-methods approach to strategic planning for multi-benefit regional water infrastructure
Harris-Lovett, S., Lienert, J., & Sedlak, D. L. (2018) · Journal of Environmental Management · doi:10.1016/j.jenvman.2018.11.112 · Cited by 60
Drivers' attitudes toward wildlife‐vehicle collisions with reptiles and other taxa
Crawford, B. F., & Andrews, K. (2016) · doi:10.1111/acv.12261 · Cited by 45
“We specifically created anonymous, self-administered surveys to reduce this source of bias (social desirability bias; Nederhof, 1985), but we acknowledge that some degree of social desirability bias may have influenced responses regarding turtles more so than other taxa.”
Method
How to Become Central in an Informal Social Network: An Investigation of the Antecedents to Network Centrality in an Environmental SCM Initiative
Wichmann, B. K., Carter, C. R., & Kaufmann, L. (2015) · Journal of Business Logistics · doi:10.1111/jbl.12079 · Cited by 41
Victoria's Dirty Secrets
Cervellon, M.-C. (2012) · Journal of Advertising · doi:10.1080/00913367.2012.10672462 · Cited by 45
Text-Based Plagiarism in Scientific Writing: What Chinese Supervisors Think About Copying and How to Reduce it in Students’ Writing
Li, Y. (2012) · Science and Engineering Ethics · doi:10.1007/s11948-011-9342-7 · Cited by 50
SOCIAL DESIRABILITY BIAS IN CROSS‐CULTURAL ETHICS RESEARCH
Randall, D., Huo, Y., & Pawelk, P. (1993) · The International Journal of Organizational Analysis · doi:10.1108/eb028788 · Cited by 45
Doing the right thing: How to persuade travelers to adopt pro-environmental behaviors? An elaboration likelihood model perspective
Cheng, P., Wei, W., & Yang, S. (2024) · Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Management · doi:10.1016/j.jhtm.2024.04.009 · Cited by 51
The continuous usage of artificial intelligence (AI)-powered mobile fitness applications: the goal-setting theory perspective
Lee, J.-C., & Lin, R. (2023) · Industrial Management & Data Systems · doi:10.1108/imds-10-2022-0602 · Cited by 54
Total productive maintenance and Industry 4.0 in a sustainability context: exploring the mediating effect of circular economy
Samadhiya, A., Agrawal, R., Luthra, S., Anil Kumar, K., Garza-Reyes, J., & Srivastava, D. (2022) · International Journal of Logistics Management · doi:10.1108/ijlm-04-2022-0192 · Cited by 44
Providers' Perceptions of Caring for Pediatric Patients in Community Hospital Emergency Departments: A Mixed‐methods Analysis
Goldman, M. P., Wong, A. H.-W., Bhatnagar, A., Emerson, B. L., Brown, L., & Auerbach, M. A. (2018) · Academic Emergency Medicine · doi:10.1111/acem.13509 · Cited by 45
Negative reviews: Formation, spread, and halt of opportunistic behavior
Salehi-Esfahani, S., & Ozturk, A. (2018) · International Journal of Hospitality Management · doi:10.1016/j.ijhm.2018.06.022 · Cited by 44
Attitudes towards subsequent entry biologics/biosimilars: A survey of Canadian rheumatologists
Grabowski, D., Henderson, B., Lam, D. S. C., Keystone, E., Thorne, C., Jamal, S., Pope, J., Haraoui, B., Lin, D., & Revers, L. (2015) · Clinical Rheumatology · doi:10.1007/s10067-014-2835-4 · Cited by 44
College Students’ Justification for Digital Piracy
Yu, S. (2012) · Journal of Mixed Methods Research · doi:10.1177/1558689812451790 · Cited by 41
Self-Deceptive Enhancement and Impression Management correlates of EPQ-R dimensions.
Davies, M., French, C., & Keogh, E. (1998) · The Journal of psychology · doi:10.1080/00223989809599274 · Cited by 44
Survey among critical care nurses and physicians about delirium management
Nydahl, P., Dewes, M., Dubb, R., Hermes, C., Kaltwasser, A., Krotsetis, S., & von Haken, R. (2018) · Nursing Critical Care · doi:10.1111/nicc.12299 · Cited by 44
A latent profile analysis of schizotypy, temperament and character in a nonclinical population: Association with neurocognition
Hori, H., Teraishi, T., Sasayama, D., Matsuo, J., Kinoshita, Y., Ota, M., Hattori, K., & Kunugi, H. (2013) · Journal of Psychiatric Research · doi:10.1016/j.jpsychires.2013.10.006 · Cited by 42
Accounting for Environmental Awareness on Green Purchase Intention and Behaviour: Evidence from the Philippines
Abeysekera, I., Manalang, L., David, R., & Guiao, B. G. M. (2022) · Sustainability · doi:10.3390/su141912565 · Cited by 52
“In designing the questionnaire, the study aimed to decrease social desirability bias to mitigate the possibility of respondents answering socially desirable questions based on their belief systems [57].”
Background
Making Sustainable Consumption Decisions: The Effects of Product Availability on Product Purchase Intention
Weissmann, M. A., & Lim, R. (2021) · Journal of Global Marketing · doi:10.1080/08911762.2021.1983686 · Cited by 57
“This is partially due to social desirability bias that irks consumers to make morally righteous and socially desirable choices for their behavior, but that may not accurately represent their actual behavior (Nederhof, 1985; Walzenbach, 2019).”
Background
Criteria for selecting apps: Debating the perceptions of young children, parents and industry stakeholders
Dias, P., & Brito, R. (2021) · Comput. Educ. · doi:10.1016/j.compedu.2021.104134 · Cited by 43
What Facilitates Kindergarten Teachers’ Intentions to Implement Play-Based Learning?
Yin, H.-B., Keung, C. P. C., & Tam, W. (2021) · Early Childhood Education Journal · doi:10.1007/s10643-021-01176-3 · Cited by 43
“During the data collection, we had taken some measures to reduce the potential bias of social desirability (Nederhof, 1985), such as strict anonymity, sealing up the returned questionnaires, setting both force-choice and neutral questions, and asking a third-party colleague (who was neither a…”
Method
Influence of formal and informal stakeholder relationship on megaproject performance: a case of China
Xue, J., Shen, Q., Yang, R. J., Zafar, I., Ekanayake, E. M. A. C., Lin, X., & Darko, A. (2020) · Engineering Construction & Architectural Management · doi:10.1108/ecam-07-2019-0353 · Cited by 52
Match-fixing: Moral challenges for those involved
Hoeven, S. V. D., Waegeneer, E. D., Constandt, B., & Willem, A. (2019) · Ethics & Behavior · doi:10.1080/10508422.2019.1667238 · Cited by 59
“This guarantee of anonymity minimized the impact of social desirability (Joinson, 1999; Nederhof, 1985; Paulhus, 1984).”
BackgroundMethod
Language tourism: The drivers that determine destination choice intention among U.S. students
Gómez, M., Imhoff, B., Martín‐Consuegra, D., Molina, A., & Vijande, M. L. S. (2018) · Tourism Management Perspectives · doi:10.1016/j.tmp.2018.06.001 · Cited by 54
The Social Value of Snapchat: An Exploration of Affiliation Motivation, the Technology Acceptance Model, and Relational Maintenance in Snapchat Use
Makki, T. W., DeCook, J. R., Kadylak, T., & Lee, O. J. (2017) · International Journal of Human-Computer Interaction · doi:10.1080/10447318.2017.1357903 · Cited by 54
“Future studies should involve additional methodological considerations, such as including a social desirability scale (Nederhof, 1985) or employing a well-trained interviewer (Grimm, 2010) to control for potential bias and more accurately determine motivations behind Snapchat use.”
Background
Measures for Assessing Student Attitudes Toward Older People
Lin, X., Bryant, C., & Boldero, J. M. (2010) · Educational Gerontology · doi:10.1080/03601270903534796 · Cited by 43
“A number of studies have found that many factors, including social desirability, self-enhancement, evaluation apprehension, and impression management concerns influence people’s responses on these self-administered instruments (Furnham, 1986; Nederhof, 1985; Strack, 1994).”
Background
The Relative Importance of Ethics as a Selection Criterion for Entry-Level Public Accountants: Does Gender Make a Difference?
Ibrahim, N. A., & Angelidis, J. P. (2009) · Journal of Business Ethics · doi:10.1007/s10551-008-9946-2 · Cited by 43
Ethical Dilemmas Faced in the Selling of Complex Services: Significant Others and Competitive Pressures
Hoffman, K., Howe, V., & Hardigree, D. W. (1991) · Journal of Personal Selling & Sales Management · doi:10.1080/08853134.1991.10753886 · Cited by 43
“Due to the problem of social desirability bias (Nederhof 1985), levels of perceived miscon duct by other agents may be a more accurate re flection of individual unethical behavior.”
Background
Individual and combined effects of working conditions, physical and mental conditions, and risky driving behaviors on taxi crashes in China
Peng, Z., Wang, Y., & Truong, L. (2022) · Safety Science · doi:10.1016/j.ssci.2022.105759 · Cited by 43
Developing a measure of provider adherence to improve the implementation of behavioral health services in primary care: a Delphi study
Beehler, G. P., Funderburk, J. S., Possemato, K., & Vair, C. L. (2013) · Implementation Science · doi:10.1186/1748-5908-8-19 · Cited by 41
“When used in future wider-scale research on patient outcomes, rather than as a tool for training, the nature of the PPAQ as a self-administered instrument may be beneficial for reducing the impact of social desirability [45], particularly if the research design allows for administration over the internet or other appr…”
Method
What drives customers towards mobile shopping? An integrative technology continuance theory perspective
Jain, N. K., Kaul, D., & Sanyal, P. (2021) · Asia Pacific Journal of Marketing and Logistics · doi:10.1108/apjml-02-2021-0133 · Cited by 64
Social Desirability Bias in Pornography-Related Self-Reports: The Role of Religion
Rasmussen, K. R., Grubbs, J. B., Pargäment, K. I., & Exline, J. J. (2017) · The Journal of Sex Research · doi:10.1080/00224499.2017.1399196 · Cited by 62
“There are ways of potentially resolving such concerns via creative methodology, including the use of a bogus pipeline (Nederhof, 1985) or a list experiment (Glynn, 2013).”
Background
A Polish Study on the Influence of Food Neophobia in Children (10–12 Years Old) on the Intake of Vegetables and Fruits
Guzek, D., Głąbska, D., Lange, E., & Jeżewska-Zychowicz, M. (2017) · Nutrients · doi:10.3390/nu9060563 · Cited by 46
“Such an approach may reduce the effect of desirable bias, but it is still not completely eliminated [47].”
Background
Personalized prevention approach with use of a web-based cardiovascular risk assessment with tailored lifestyle follow-up in primary care practice – a pilot study
van den Brekel-Dijkstra, K., Rengers, A. H., Niessen, M. A. J., de Wit, N. J., & Kraaijenhagen, R. A. (2015) · European Journal of Preventive Cardiology · doi:10.1177/2047487315591441 · Cited by 47
“It is well-established that self-reported health behaviour is vulnerable to reactivity effects such as social desirability bias.(33) As such, the use of self-reported outcomes in this study might have led to an overestimation of programme effects on motivation and behaviour.”
Background
Attitudes towards suicidal behaviour in outpatient clinics among mental health professionals in Oslo
Norheim, A. B., Grimholt, T. K., & Ekeberg, Ø. (2013) · BMC Psychiatry · doi:10.1186/1471-244x-13-90 · Cited by 45
“Accordingly, there is a possibility that the responses are biased positively towards social desirability [29].”
Background
Mapping the structure of science through usage
Bollen, J., & de Sompel, H. V. (2006) · Scientometrics · doi:10.1007/s11192-006-0151-8 · Cited by 42
“Citation and co-authorship are public phenomena and therefore subject to strong social desirability biases (NEDERHOF, 1985; KING & BRUNER, 2000), for example the perceived need to cite popular articles and co-author with prestigious team leaders.”
Background
Socially Desirable Responding and Impression Management in the Endorsement of Love Styles
Davies, M. (2001) · The Journal of psychology · doi:10.1080/00223980109603719 · Cited by 42
Relationships Between Social Media Addiction, Social Media Use Metacognitions, Depression, Anxiety, Fear of Missing Out, Loneliness, and Mindfulness
Meynadier, J., Malouff, J. M., Schutte, N. S., Loi, N. M., & Griffiths, M. D. (2025) · International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction · doi:10.1007/s11469-024-01440-8 · Cited by 45
“The study relied entirely on self-report instruments, making the data vulnerable to recall and social desirability biases (Nederhof, 1985) and biases related to the same respondents providing all the data (Podsakoff et al., 2003).”
Social, environmental, and economic dimensions of innovation capabilities: Theorizing from sustainable business
da Nascimento, L. S., da Rosa, J. R., da Silva, A. R., & Reichert, F. (2023) · Business Strategy and the Environment · doi:10.1002/bse.3506 · Cited by 41
Do cash transfers alleviate common mental disorders in low- and middle-income countries? A systematic review and meta-analysis
Wollburg, C., Steinert, J., Reeves, A., & Nye, E. (2023) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0281283 · Cited by 70
Designing PairBuddy—A Conversational Agent for Pair Programming
Robe, P., & Kuttal, S. K. (2022) · ACM Transactions on Computer-Human Interaction · doi:10.1145/3498326 · Cited by 51
“To avoid social desirability bias [94, 173], we told participants that the study was being used to improve PairBuddy’s design and that honest feedback was crucial to evaluate our system.”
Method
Life satisfaction and tax morale: The role of trust in government and cultural orientation
Ciziceno, M., & Pizzuto, P. (2022) · Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics · doi:10.1016/j.socec.2021.101824 · Cited by 61

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

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Methods of coping with social desirability bias: A review

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