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‘Dual-promotion’: bragging without backlash

October 4, 2023

‘If we don’t promote and value ourselves, who will, right?’ Although this popular maxim is called for in moments of support and self-esteem, it faces several barriers, especially in the workplace – and among women. Boasting and self–promoting can be seen as arrogant and negative, damaging perceptions of warmth and friendliness. 

In a recent study, researchers identified a new approach by combining self-promotion with the promotion of others (praising or giving credit to others), which they called “dual-promotion”. According to the results, individuals can project both friendliness and competence to make better impressions on observers than if they only self-promoted

The researchers found that dual promotion is effective for several professions, from politicians to salespeople. For those working in teams or collaborative environments, employees can mention their team members’ contributions to achieving a specific goal.

Speaking to Forbes magazine, Eric VanEpps, professor of marketing at Vanderbilt University and lead author of the study, said that dual promotion is a little trickier, but still feasible for the self-employed. “While teammates and coworkers are natural people to promote alongside oneself, we think that independent workers can dual-promote too. In fields where one might know about the achievements of others, even competitors, we think dual-promoting that includes the achievements of others in the field would be appropriate,” he said.

Source: Journal of Personality and Social Psychology | Forbes