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On 12 January at 10:00, there will be a 3rd year PhD presentation by Marie Freia Wunderlich entitled "When job titles turn into promises: The signalling effects of inflated job titles".

Supervisors: Ann-Kristina Løkke Møller & Anders Ryom Villadsen
Discussants: Sarah Krøtel & Anna B. Holm

Abstract
My PhD dissertation examines the phenomenon of Employee Experience Management and concept of experience in a people management context. Closely linked to this phenomenon is the emergence of new job titles, such as Employee Experience Manager. Job title inflation describes the practice of purposefully manipulating job titles with the goal of gaining benefits from it. However, empirical research on the outcomes of inflated job titles is scarce, which is surprising in the light that the use of attention-grabbing job titles is increasing in the private and non-profit sector.

The fourth paper of my PhD dissertation explores the effects of inflated job titles by employing a mixed-method design combining an inductive qualitative and a deductive quantitative study. In study 1, an interview study with 36 job titleholders, I was surprised to learn that inflated job titles create excessively high employee expectations that result in dissatisfaction when remaining unfulfilled or being violated. In study 2, a vignette study, I follow-up on the potential effect of inflated job titles on employee expectations and satisfaction by randomly assigning participants to scenarios with inflated and non-inflated job titles. 

In my third year presentation, I will present the study results and discuss the theoretical and practical implications. Furthermore, I will introduce my overall thesis to show how this paper integrates and contributes to it.