"Service Request Approver" option on Requester record

"Service Request Approver" option on Requester record

I have another post regarding Approvers that hasn't been answered yet ( https://pitstop.manageengine.com/portal/community/topic/dynamic-approval-for-service-catalog-requests) so I'm looking at alternatives.

Other than the built in roles for Approvers, there appears to be a list of requester names available to select.  

Requesters appear in the list based on whether they have the following option checked in their record:





I have 2 questions regarding this:

1) Can this option be ticked en masse for a set of users (either by script or a CSV file?)
2) Is there any way to get this option ticked by default when ServiceDesk imports a new user from Active Directory?