“I’m Just So Busy:” The Creation of a Busyness Façade as an Impression Management Tactic

Busyness, or how busy someone is, has increasingly become a topic of conversation in day-to-day life. Research has previously explored how people use their time and how people perceive their available time, or lack thereof, but there is no clear answer as to why people tell others that they are busy and what it is they are trying to accomplish by doing so. Drawing on impression management research, this paper proposes that people signal to others that they are busy so that the audience has a positive impression of them. The concept of the busyness façade is introduced, which includes behaviors and verbal statements that are intentionally enacted by individuals to signal to others that they have a lot to do or limited available time. Exactly how and why people engage in this busyness façade is explored in two studies using semi-structured interviews and an online, vignette survey. Overall, evidence is found for the existence of busyness façades and a better understanding of how people display busyness is gained, but the studies are unable to identify a clear motive for why busyness façades would be used as an impression management tactic. Additional findings and research directions are discussed.