Relationship between attributional style and Lie scores in an occupational sample motivated to fake good

The success of the Seligman Attributional Style Questionnaire (SASQ) in predicting productivity in motivationally challenging occupations has been confirmed in both the U.S.A. and the U.K. However, the vulnerability of the SASQ to faking, motivated by attempts at impression management, in occupationally-relevant samples has not been investigated. SASQ factors and EPQ Lie scores were studied in incumbent salesmen and normal volunteers. The results show that positive attributional style (CoPos) and Lie scores were higher, and negative attributional style (CoNeg) was lower, in job incumbents; Lie scores were found to depress CoNeg scores but had no effect on CoPos scores. The relevance of these results to the validity of the SASQ in occupational settings in the U.K. is discussed.