Graduation Year

2026

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree

D.B.A.

Degree Granting Department

Business

Major Professor

Dahlia Robinson, Ph.D.

Committee Member

Paul Spector, Ph.D.

Committee Member

Anand Kumar, Ph.D.

Committee Member

Aharon Yoki, D.B.A.

Keywords

confidence, decision-making, military leadership, professional competence

Abstract

Impostor syndrome (IS) — the persistent pattern of self-doubt in which capable individuals fear being exposed as frauds despite objective evidence of competence — has been studied extensively in academic, healthcare, and corporate populations, where it is generally treated as detrimental to professional performance. Little empirical work has examined IS in U.S. military officers, a population operating under structural conditions the literature identifies as primary amplifiers of fraudulence perceptions: high-stakes permanent evaluations, up-or-out promotion systems, cultural pressure against outward expressions of doubt, and recurring role transitions under compressed timelines. This dissertation provides the first quantitative investigation of the relationship between IS and formal leadership performance ratings in this population.

Using a quantitative, non-experimental, cross-sectional survey design, 77 active-duty, Reserve, and National Guard commissioned officers at the ranks of Captain (O-3) and Major (O-4) completed an anonymous online instrument that included the Clance Impostor Phenomenon Scale (CIPS), a researcher-developed Behavioral Manifestations Scale, and self-reported Officer Evaluation Report (OER) rating history. Ordinary least squares regression models tested whether IS was associated with OER performance ratings and whether the relationship was better described by a linear or a nonlinear specification, with age and length of service included as covariates.

Officers whose CIPS scores placed them in the intense-impostor range (HIGHIMP) received significantly higher performance evaluations than their low- and moderate-impostor peers (β = .238, p = .015; β = .209, p = .034 with controls). Parallel analyses for the LOWIMP and MODIMP categories produced no significant effects, and quadratic and logarithmic specifications of the continuous CIPS score were nonsignificant. The relationship therefore appears as a threshold effect concentrated at the upper end of the CIPS distribution rather than as a linear or smoothly curved function.

These findings run counter to the deficit view that dominates the IS literature and provide the strongest fit for a contextual-moderation account: the compensatory behaviors associated with intense IS — over-preparation, vigilance, attention to detail, and feedback-seeking — align with the behaviors the OER system rewards, producing overperformance rather than the impairment the literature predicts. The results carry implications for leader development, evaluation interpretation, and future research linking IS to downstream wellbeing and retention outcomes that formal performance ratings cannot capture.

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