Communications of the ACM
Is Resume Padding Good for Society?
The signal in self-reported signaling, such as a CV, can be a lie.
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Two Cornell University researchers say that "resume padding," the self reporting of information that may not be true, can have a positive effect if the long-term result is decreased misrepresentation.
"We investigate self-reporting when self-reports serve as a signal of sender productivity," write Professor Michael Waldman and Assistant Professor Thomas Jungbauer of Cornell's Samuel Curtis Johnson College of Business in an article published in American Economic Journal: Microeconomics. "We find that self-reporting can reverse the standard result in signaling models that there is overinvestment in the action and that the possibility of misrepresentation may in fact improve welfare given self-reported signaling."
"There is the possibility," Jungbauer says, "that all this misrepresentation just lowers the incentive of investing in the signal, whether it be education or other standard activities that serve as signals, which could have a positive effect on the economy."
From Cornell Chronicle
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