Pressure to appear confident fuels impostor syndrome in the workplace

Survey of 1,000 American workers suggests self-doubt is less about competence and more to do with organizational culture and behavior among leadership

Daniel Dieb

A Black woman with her hair tied back, wearing round-framed glasses, sits at her desk with a pensive expression, gazing into the distance. She rests her head on her left hand and holds a pen over an open notebook. In the foreground, there is an open laptop computer. In the background, there is a gray wall covered with colorful post-it notes, as well as plants and a bookshelf.

It is not enough to be, you must appear to be. This maxim from the performing arts has found a new stage: the workplace. At work, acting does not bring a character to life—it masks an employee’s feelings of insecurity and fuels what has been called the “theater of confidence,” where uncertainty is concealed to meet expectations of competence.

A survey conducted in the United States indicates that 43% of American workers experience symptoms of impostor syndrome at work, while 66% feel pressure to appear more confident or knowledgeable than they actually are.

The data are from a survey of 1,000 American adults in full-time employment, conducted by MyPerfectResume in December 2025.

Participants answered single- and multiple-choice questions about imposter syndrome, self-doubt, workplace culture, leadership behavior, and career confidence.

The term “impostor syndrome” was coined in 1978 by American psychologists Pauline Clance and Suzanne Imes, initially observed among high-achieving women. The phenomenon affects people who are capable but feel like “frauds” and live in fear of being exposed at any moment.

More recent research indicates it is prevalent among both sexes. The syndrome is not recognized as a disorder by the World Health Organization (WHO), but is classified as a personality trait or a behavioral response to environmental conditions.

Environment, not competence

The findings suggest that self-doubt has less to do with individual ability than with organizational context. Three out of four workers cited pressure or comparison as the main triggers. The factors mentioned include high expectations from leadership, personal perfectionism, and comparison with high-performing colleagues.

“Imposter syndrome is not a lack of ability; it is often a response to workplace environments that reward certainty and visibility over learning and honesty,” says Jasmine Escalera, a career specialist at MyPerfectResume.

For 65% of the respondents, managers rarely or never speak openly about their own doubts or mistakes. According to the data, this silence among leadership amplifies the perception that self-doubt is an individual failing rather than a shared experience.

From companies to academia

The survey was not conducted in academic environments, but the conditions it describes—performance pressure, constant comparisons, limited feedback—resonate with researchers.

A 2024 American study of PhD students, postdoctoral researchers, and professors in the basic sciences revealed a high prevalence of impostor syndrome in all three groups, with the most severe symptoms experienced by PhD students.

Those most affected were also the ones considering leaving academia.

In Brazil, studies on this topic focus primarily on undergraduate students—data on active researchers and the general working population remain scarce.

Limitations of the survey

The findings should be interpreted with caution: the survey was conducted by a career services company, has not been peer-reviewed, and is based on self-reported data.

The sample is also skewed toward older age groups: 25% of respondents were 65 or older, which may mean the results do not reflect the reality of early-career professionals.

Nevertheless, the numbers echo patterns already documented in the academic literature

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