Social Desirability Bias

Abstract Social desirability bias refers to the tendency of research subjects to give socially desirable responses instead of choosing responses that are reflective of their true feelings. The bias in responses due to this personality trait becomes a major issue when the scope of the study involves socially sensitive issues such as politics, religion, and environment, or personal issues such as drug use, cheating, and smoking. Whenever possible, it is desirable to measure the extent of the bias present in responses to a survey by incorporating a socially desirable scale in the survey. A number of methods to address this issue are suggested in the literature. Use of a well‐trained interviewer or collection of…