Reparative Impression Management for Ex-Offender Applicants: Understanding Mechanisms, Race/Ethnicity, and Disclosure Timing

Despite the large number of individuals with criminal records in the United States, research on their employment transitions and hiring challenges remains scarce. Further, given the over-representation of people of color in the US justice system, investigations incorporating the potential effects of race/ethnicity are crucial. In the present study, we examine the effects of different reparative impression management tactics for ex-offender applicants of various races/ethnicities in both a prehire and postoffer context and the mechanisms underlying those effects. Using an experimental design, we link specific reparative impression management tactics to employment outcomes through perceived remorse (Studies 1 and 2) and trustworthiness (Study 2), finding that Latino and Black candidates’ engagement in reparative impression management tactics had greater impact on perceptions of remorse, trustworthiness, and hiring evaluations than did the use of such tactics by White candidates. Disclosure timing did not have large impacts on evaluations. Our findings contribute to research on reparative impression management in hiring contexts more broadly, as well as informing ex-offender job seekers which tactics are most useful when disclosing a criminal record, how demographics may impact these impression management techniques, and potential optimal disclosure timing relevant to current legislative contexts.