Objective evaluation or collective self-presentation: What people expect of LinkedIn recommendations

Professional recommendations function to provide objective evaluations about job candidates and thereby should be expected to follow warranting principles. However, this expectancy can be compromised on LinkedIn. This study examines how individuals perceive the expectedness and the valence of LinkedIn recommendations that violate warranting principles. Results from a within-subjects experiment (N = 156) reveal that LinkedIn recommendations from the former supervisor were more expected and valenced more positively, compared to those from the former subordinate. In addition, nonreciprocal recommendations were valenced more positively than reciprocal recommendations, although they did not differ in their expectedness. These findings reveal how norms change depending on the context, and highlight LinkedIn's nature of collective self-presentation and relationship management.