Risky Business Or Managed Event? Perceptions of Power and Deception in the Workplace (Report‪)‬

INTRODUCTION Deception is a part of everyday social interaction. In fact, some scholars argue that deception is a fact of social life rather than an extraordinary or unusual event (Kashy & DePaulo, 1998). Often deception goes undetected, but if a lie is told to an authority figure the repercussions can be serious. Some researchers argue that manipulative ability is a foundation of social power and the ability to lie successfully is an important skill linked to personal and professional success (DePaulo, LeMay, & Epstein, 1991). The motivations and the risks for people deceiving authority figures is likely quite different from the motivations of the deceptive authority figures themselves. Thus, the goals of the current study were to investigate the link between power and deception, understand how deception occurs in the workplace, and identify the impact of deception on power-laden relationships.