When survey respondents are asked questions about which there may be value judgements (e.g., Do you attend religious services regularly? Do you measure the effectiveness of your marketing campaigns?), they often answer in a way that they believe is socially acceptable (answering yes to the two questions above), even if that does not match reality.
In other words, people inflate their responses, trying to look good even when no one will ever know how they answered.
It sounds odd, but it is so common that researchers have developed methods (socially desirable responding scales) to detect the extent to which a respondent is puffing themselves up.
For our 2025 Marketing Measurement Benchmark, we created our own socially desirable responding scale. The scale asked respondents to agree or disagree with five statements such as, “I make sure leadership is just as aware of our failures as our wins.” Respondents who consistently selected the most favorable response options across all five questions were categorized as Inflaters on the scale.
After identifying Inflaters, we compared their responses to key questions throughout the survey—such as whether their organization runs an ABM program and how they rated their company’s financial performance. These Inflaters were reliably more likely to report that their organization does ABM and rated their company’s financial performance higher.
This is a classic example of socially desirable responding: some answers likely reflect how respondents want their organization to be perceived, rather than a strict accounting of current performance and practices. By flagging this group, we were able to assess the extent to which certain findings may have been inflated. Where the difference between Inflaters and others is meaningful, we can factor Inflaters down to reflect what is likely the reality.Biases like socially desirable responding are common—and often unavoidable—in survey research. But conducting checks for these patterns is best practice. When done well, it helps ensure the data we’re working with provides a more accurate picture of reality.
