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8 Social Hierarchy: The Self‐Reinforcing Nature of Power and Status
... Our conceptualization and empirical work contribute to several research areas. Our main contribution is introducing a novel theoretical model-The Vicious Cycle of Status Insecurity-to the status literature (Anderson et al., 2012(Anderson et al., , 2015Hays & Bendersky, 2015;Magee & Galinsky, 2008). This dynamic model integrates multiple concepts and mechanisms to explain why and how status insecurity can reinforce itself. ...
... Specifically, status carries numerous psychological and social benefits, motivating people to either maintain or improve their social standing, depending on the context and their status level (Kim et al., 2018). Finally, we use the extent to which one is respected and admired in the eyes of others because it is the core definition of status (Magee & Galinsky, 2008). individuals with low status are more likely to experience status advancement concerns, individuals with high status are more likely to experience status maintenance concerns (Kim et al., 2018). ...
... Status insecurity is distinct from power insecurity, which refers to doubts about one's control over valued resources (Magee & Galinsky, 2008). Building on research showing that individuals can have power without status and status without power (Anicich et al., 2016;Fast et al., 2012;Fragale et al., 2011), we argue that one can feel secure in one's control over resources but still doubt the extent to which one is respected and admired in the eyes of others. ...
The current research presents and tests a new model: The Vicious Cycle of Status Insecurity. We define status insecurity as doubting whether one is respected and admired by others. Status insecurity leads people to view status as a limited and zero-sum resource, where a boost in the status of one individual inherently decreases that of other individuals. As a result, the insecure become reluctant to share status in the form of highlighting the contributions of others. However, we suggest this reluctance to give others credit is often counterproductive. In contrast to the zero-sum beliefs of the insecure, we propose that giving credit to others boosts the status of both the sharer and the recipient, expanding the overall status pie. Because the insecure miss opportunities to gain status by not elevating others, they reinforce their initial insecurity. We provide evidence for this vicious cycle across 17 studies, including a content analysis of people’s personal experiences with status insecurity, an archival analysis of the final speeches held on the reality TV show Survivor (using ChatGPT), and more than a dozen experimental studies. To enhance generalizability and external validity, our experimental contexts include consulting pitches, venture capital competitions, and idea generation contests. To demonstrate discriminant validity, we differentiate status insecurity from self-esteem insecurity. Across the studies, status insecurity consistently decreased status sharing while status sharing reliably increased one’s status. Ultimately, status insecurity paradoxically lowers one’s status because it reduces the propensity to elevate and celebrate others.
... Research on status inconsistency primarily argues that it negatively influences performance, independent of the main effect of status, and examines how organizations attempt to resolve status inconsistency issues [12,13]. However, organizations are often nested within higher-level groups that influence their own status [14,15], creating a unique condition for addressing status inconsistency. By examining the status difference between basketball teams and their conferences in NCAA Division I universities, this paper addresses the important question of how organizations respond to status inconsistency stemming from nested status positions. ...
... By examining the status difference between basketball teams and their conferences in NCAA Division I universities, this paper addresses the important question of how organizations respond to status inconsistency stemming from nested status positions. The nested form of status inconsistency is defined as the status difference between an organization and the group to which the organization belongs [14,16]. Unlike the other forms of status inconsistency, nested form of status inconsistency is more likely to constrain the organization's attempt to resolve the status inconsistency due to the organization's limited control over its group's status, which is also composed of the status positions of all other organizations in the group. ...
... First, it contributes to the organizational status literature by expanding our understanding of nested status positions, where the status of a focal actor's belonging group exerts influence on the focal actor's status. While previous research has acknowledged the importance of such nested status positions [14,30,31], their specific impact has remained understudied. The few studies that examine the role of nested status positions usually emphasize that the influence of individual status is contingent on group status, showing that it can buffer group members, allowing more leeway for deviant behavior [16,40,41]. ...
This study examines the impact of status inconsistency on status-threatening activities within NCAA Division I men’s basketball teams. Specifically, we focus on a nested form of status that includes both individual and group-level elements. We argue that organizations dealing with status inconsistency stemming from such nested form face challenges in reducing status inconsistency. To maintain their deserved status, these status-inconsistent organizations tend to avoid activities that could further threaten their status, despite potential economic gains. An analysis of NCAA Division I men’s basketball scheduling data from 2000 to 2019 provides robust support to our theoretical arguments. Our findings suggest that the status inconsistency between a team’s status and its conference status diminished the likelihood of scheduling games with non-Division I teams, a behavior considered counter-normative in this context. This effect is most prominent among teams in “Mid Major” conferences, while teams with recent participation in the NCAA Tournament show a mitigated effect.
... there's power in vulnerability'. As demonstrated by Amari, this perceived responsibility to give trust first stemmed from coaches acknowledging the hierarchy in sport and the inherent power they had over their athletes and for the head coaches, their coaching staff (Magee and Galinsky 2008). Importantly, by enduring these uncomfortable feelings within their position of power, the coaches who drew upon this narrative sought to normalise vulnerability for their team members. ...
... In this way, Alex expected their athletes (and in particular the incoming athletes) to earn their trust. By placing the expectation on the incoming athletes of objectively less power/status (Magee and Galinsky 2008) to earn the trust of higher power members (the coaching staff), a more pronounced power differential could be observed. ...
... Synonyms allow speakers to maintain interest and engagement by varying their language while reinforcing key concepts. This variation helps keep the audience attentive and ensures that important points are driven home without sounding redundant, (Magee & Galinsky, 2008). ...
... The strategic use of synonyms can enhance rhetorical impact. Politicians often select words based on their emotional resonance or persuasive power, (Magee & Galinsky, 2008). For example, terms like "freedom" and "liberty" may be employed to evoke strong patriotic sentiments, while "regulation" and "control" might be used to address concerns about governance. ...
This research is a pragma-rhetorical analysis of the use of synonyms in Iraqi parliamentary speeches in 2024. It aims at identifying instances of the use of synonyms utilized by Iraqi parliamentary members in their speeches before the Iraqi parliamentary session. Also it is meant to clarify political speeches through using pragma-rhetorical strategies employed to affect and persuade their audiences. To achieve these aims, using synonyms in their language are analyzed by the researcher to examine the extent to which figures of speech are utilized by them. Then, an analysis is performed to investigate the way that Grice's maxims (of quantity, quality, relation, and manner) are flouted by Iraqi parliamentary speeches in using these synonyms via rhetorical figures to achieve this persuasive goal. The analysis carried out in this paper includes identifying specific tropes: metaphor, pun, overstatement, understatement, and rhetorical question as pragma-rhetorical devices. This paper is expected to be of benefit to show how synonym can be created by using different figures of speech. Besides, it will bridge a gap in this field of knowledge by applying a Pragma-Rhetorical analysis through which Iraqi parliamentary chosen speech will be examined thoroughly.
... Research suggests that the possession of power may be associated with an identity-based motive for uniqueness seeking as the possession of power increases authenticity and the tendency to be oneself (Kraus et al., 2011) as well as self-orientated thinking (Galinsky et al., 2006) while reducing the attention paid to others (Fiske, 1993). In contrast, the need for power may foster a strategic motive for uniqueness seeking as demonstrating one's uniqueness and the unique instrumental social value one contributes to a group can elevate one's social standing (Anderson et al., 2015), an important source of influence and power (Magee & Galinsky, 2008). Indeed, Leslie et al. (2017) found that high-potential women receive higher pay than comparable men because of their unique perceived value in contributing to organizations' diversity goals. ...
Building on the perspectives reflected in the Western intellectual tradition of the psychology of identity and the self, current research in cultural psychology tends to conceptualize uniqueness preferences as reflecting an identity-based motive and argues that people in Western cultures value uniqueness because it is viewed as inherently important to their identity and individuality. In this research, we introduce a complementary Eastern perspective to understand uniqueness preferences and argue that uniqueness preferences can also reflect a strategic motive where people in East Asian cultures may also value uniqueness because of the instrumental material and social benefits they believe uniqueness may confer. We tested our propositions in nine preregistered studies contrasting the decision making of people in the United States with those in China. We found that compared to participants from the United States, those from China were more likely to pursue uniqueness or believe others would pursue uniqueness in situations where being unique could potentially confer material and social benefits (Studies 1a–1c, 2, 4, 5), and this behavioral tendency could be explained in part by participants from China exhibiting a greater strategic motive for uniqueness seeking (Studies 3–5). Further, correlational and experimental studies provided some evidence for the roles of the need for power, power distance orientation, trait competitiveness, and upward social comparison as psychological antecedents to the strategic motive for uniqueness seeking (Studies 5–7). Overall, this research provides an alternative Eastern cultural perspective to balance the prevailing Western cultural perspective for understanding uniqueness preferences.
... B. Bitterly et al., 2017). Status is self-reinforcing, so higher-status individuals obtain more gains (Magee & Galinsky, 2008). The self-reinforcing quality of perceived status implies that individuals with higher status tend to be ranked higher in performance evaluations. ...
While previous work suggested that presenters may benefit from the use of humor, others argue that the use of humor can be risky. Therefore, there is a need to examine the potential moderators and mediators of this process. The study aims to experimentally explore the appropriate use of humor during a professional investment presentation. The sample included 400 participants. After being randomly assigned to 2 × 2 between-subjects conditions (man /woman presenter × with/without a humorous message), the participants watched a video of an investment presentation. Participants who were asked to invest virtual money in the firm after the video. Using a moderated mediation analysis, the results show that humor was related to higher investment amounts and that the presenters’ perceived organizational status mediated this indirect relationship. The novelty of the study lies in its experimental design, focusing on audience behavioral tendencies and its unexplored mixed-gender effect: women tended to invest less when a male presenter used humor, while men tended to invest more when a female presenter used humor. The perceived status of the presenter mediated these associations. Theoretically, the study expands the understanding of the Benign Violation Theory (BVT) regarding the need to address contextual factors while examining the appropriate use of humor. Moreover, to maximize the benefits of humor, one must consider the humor’s relevance to the audience and acknowledge that humor needs to be appropriately used. This is particularly important for people working in investment settings.
... Human society has many social structures, including social rank system and affiliation system. All social animals have social hierarchies since there is a direct relationship between social rank and inclusive fitness [10]. At the same time, having social bonds also provides individual fitness [11]. ...
Social anxiety, the psychological state of showing fear and avoidance in social situations, remains prevalent in modern society. The research in this article is based on the theoretical background of social threat, which states that people in group life need social anxiety to avoid potential threats that may affect social status or accessible social resources. The prediction of the article is that Social Rank Theory and Social Bonds Theory can be successfully tested, with one relating to social hierarchies in which people maintain their social status by avoiding conflict and maintaining a positive image through social anxiety, while the other states that social anxiety can help maintain existing social bonds. The experiment tests whether the loss of social status and social bonds produces social anxiety. By setting up scenarios and collecting data about participants’ individual levels of social anxiety, it will eventually be possible to conclude how the potential threats present in the different scenarios affect people’s anxiety levels, and whether the possible experimental results can test the two theories.
... An individual's social rank in the organizational hierarchy (or the influence and attention one holds within a group, Mitchell et al. 2020) may be rooted in characteristics reflecting task competence, which may include prior high task performance (Kehoe et al. 2018, Magee andGalinsky 2008). Moreover, individuals' fundamental desire for high social rank (and motivation to protect it) is partly driven by the intrapersonal, symbolic benefits it affords, such as self-esteem and autonomy or interpersonal benefits such as peer recognition and influence (Mitchell et al. 2020). ...
Despite the growing availability of algorithm-augmented work, algorithm aversion is prevalent among employees, hindering successful implementations of powerful artificial intelligence (AI) aids. Applying a social comparison perspective, this article examines the adverse effect of employees’ high performance ranking on their preimplementation attitudes toward the integration of powerful AI aids within their area of advantage. Five studies, using a weight estimation simulation (Studies 1–3), recall of actual job tasks (Study 4), and a workplace scenario (Study 5), provided consistent causal evidence for this effect by manipulating performance ranking (performance advantage compared with peers versus no advantage). Studies 3–4 revealed that this effect was driven in part by employees’ perceived potential loss of standing compared with peers, a novel social-based mechanism complementing the extant explanation operating via one’s confidence in own (versus AI) ability. Stronger causal evidence for this mechanism was provided in Study 5 using a “moderation-of-process” design. It showed that the adverse effect of high performance ranking on preimplementation AI attitudes was reversed when bolstering the stability of future performance rankings (presumably counteracting one’s concern with potential loss of standing). Finally, pointing to the power of symbolic threats, this adverse effect was evident both in the absence of financial incentives for high performance (Study 1) and in various incentive-based settings (Studies 2–3). Implications for understanding and managing high performers’ aversion toward the integration of powerful algorithmic aids are discussed.
Funding: This work was supported by the Coller Foundation.
Supplemental Material: The supplemental material is available at https://doi.org/10.1287/orsc.2023.17515 .
... Power struggles are often shaped by societal expectations and conditioning. Social hierarchies, both formal and informal, encourage individuals to assert dominance over others to gain status (Magee & Galinsky, 2008). As such, behaviors like one-upping or ignoring others often emerge in competitive work or social environments where individuals are pressured to demonstrate their worth. ...
Human behavior is complex, shaped by a mix of internal psychological factors, external societal influences, and interpersonal dynamics. Whether it’s someone trying to one-up you, ignoring you because they believe they are better, or attempting to control your thoughts and speech, these behaviors are often rooted in deeper psychological and social mechanisms. While each individual case may vary, several key factors typically drive these behaviors, including insecurity, a need for validation, power dynamics, and social conditioning.
... Power, one of the important social constructs within the bedrock of society, is defined as asymmetric controls over worthy resources (Magee & Galinsky, 2008). It is also a psychological state that can be evoked through episodic recall (Galinsky et al., 2003), and semantic priming (Magee et al., 2007). ...
The current research investigates whether, when, and why power states, a prevalent experience in everyday life, influence negative WOM (NWOM). The authors find that low‐power consumers tend to engage more in NWOM, and this effect is driven by less image‐impairment concerns and heightened motives to protect others induced by low‐power states. We further showed that interpersonal closeness (IC)—people' feeling of proximity between they and others—moderates the positive effect of low‐power states on NWOM sharing. That is, the differences of sharing NWOM between low‐power and high‐power consumers are attenuated when facing high IC. To account for this, both image‐impairment concerns and motives to protect others mediate the effect of power states when recipients are interpersonally close others; however, only image‐impairment concerns mediate the effect of power states when recipients are interpersonally distant others. These findings make theoretical contributions to research in interpersonal communication, WOM, and power, and holds practical implications for marketers interested in understanding how NWOM spreads.
... Executive in this study refers to companies' CEOs. The latest social psychology research shows that power ultimately affects decision-making behaviour by affecting executives' psychological processes, and the different effects of power on behaviour can be explained by neurobiology and the inhibition system 13 . When the proximity system is dominant people pay more attention to positive results and ignore risks; when the inhibition system is dominant, people pay more attention to negative results and prefer to avoid risks 14 . ...
This study explored executive power’s influence on corporate R&D investment based on social psychology theory. It also examined the impact of media attention and institutional environment on the relationship between executive power and enterprise R&D investment as an external governance mechanism. Empirical verification was carried out using data on listed companies on China's small and medium-sized board and growth enterprise market from 2013 to 2018. The results show a significant positive correlation between executive power and corporate R&D investment. Further research reveals that ownership power, organizational power, and reputational power significantly promote enterprises’ R&D investments. Expert power has no significant impact on R&D investment. In enterprises with lower media attention, the influence of executive power on R&D investment is more significant. In enterprises with a poorer institutional environment, the influence of executive power on R&D investment is more significant.
... Social power refers to the perceived ability to control, influence, and evaluate others to achieve desired outcomes [1]. Social power is associated with the disinhibition of behavior directed toward goal attainment [2][3][4][5]. ...
Social power can activate behavior toward goal attainment. In the context of romantic and sexual relationships, social power may facilitate competitor derogation tactics and self-promotion tactics to attract a partner. We hypothesized that perceived invulnerability to harm would provide a pathway linking social power to competitor derogation, whereas self-perceived mate value would provide a pathway linking social power to self-promotion. Findings from 218 participants (Mage = 38 years) revealed that experimentally manipulated social power enhanced perceived invulnerability, which in turn was positively associated with competitor derogation. Social power did not affect ratings of self-perceived mate value. Women more strongly endorsed self-promotion in pursuit of a short-term (vs. long-term) relationship, whereas men’s ratings did not vary by relationship goal. Our findings suggested that social power may influence goal-directed thinking and behavior in the context of romantic and sexual relationships.
... Gordon, Cummings, and Nash (1972) refer to it in the context of resources and punishments, as involving socially valued materials including food, money, and economic opportunity; physical threats; and social elements such as knowledge, affection, friendship, and decision-making opportunities. In a similar vein, Magee and Galinsky (2008) de ne power as an asymmetric control over valued resources. One common theme underlying these de nitions is that power appears in a relationship between at least two parties in which one party knows that the other can readily access the resources valued by both parties. ...
... Power not only provides material resources and social status but also WHEN AND HOW IS ABUSIVE SUPERVISION ENACTED TOWARD COMPETENT SUBORDINATES? THE ROLE OF SUPERVISORS' POWER LOSS CONCERN AND DOWNWARD ENVY 5 reinforces the desire among authority figures to uphold their superior status and maintain hierarchal order (Chen et al., 2020;Magee & Galinsky, 2008). Additionally, individuals in positions of power and dominance within a hierarchy are resistant to the idea of low-status individuals achieving parity in status and power (Aiello et al., 2013;Pratto et al., 2006). ...
In general, supervisor abuse is directed toward low‐performing subordinates. Similarly, envy is typically felt by professionals in lower ranks toward those in higher positions. By contrast, this study investigates the counterintuitive relationship between the abusive behavior of envious leaders toward their competent subordinates. Specifically, we argue that supervisors become envious of competent employees when they are anxious about losing power. Multisource, time‐lagged data collected from dyads (198 supervisors and 198 subordinates) in Pakistan‐based organizations support the proposed hypotheses. The findings show a positive relationship between perceptions of subordinate competence, supervisors' downward envy, and abusive supervision. In addition, the relationship between perceived subordinates' competence and supervisors' envy is strong when supervisors' power loss concerns are high. This study provides useful theoretical and practical insights for human resource managers dealing with unethical workplace behavior.
... Due to their attentional focus on reward, high-power individuals are also more likely to show approach motivation and adopt approach-related strategies to pursue their interests (Anderson & Berdahl, 2002;Smith & Bargh, 2008). For example, high-power individuals are more likely to take action to achieve their goals (Anderson & Berdahl, 2002), negotiate more to maximize their personal gains (Magee & Galinsky, 2008), and engage in riskier behaviors (Anderson & Galinsky, 2006). Consequently, they are less likely to be attracted to free-from products, which do not offer immediate rewards. ...
Going gluten‐free and dairy‐free has become increasingly popular in the past 10 years, yet little research has examined the drivers of this dietary preference beyond medical reasons. This research investigates how the feeling of low power contributes to the growing popularity of free‐from products (e.g., gluten‐free, fragrance‐free). Five studies, using various statistical analyses (including regressions, analysis of variance, mediation, and moderation analysis) across both surveys and experiments, provide converging evidence that the feeling of low power increases preferences for free‐from products, driven by heightened perceived threat. Consistent with this account, low‐power individuals’ increased preference for free‐from products is attenuated (1) when their perceived threat is reduced through self‐affirmation, and (2) when advertising appeals highlight health benefits in a gain (vs. loss) frame. This research contributes to both the special diets and power literatures, offering practical implications for marketers of free‐from products by revealing a potential market segment and suggesting message framing strategies to better persuade consumers.
... Does the status people possess shape their subjective well-being (SWB)-that is, people's cognitive and affective evaluations of their lives [1]? Status is the respect, admiration, and voluntary deference individuals are afforded by others [2]. In a 2012 paper, Anderson and colleagues [3] hypothesized that status influences SWB because it affects the power and influence people possess in their interpersonal relationships [4] and shapes their sense of belonging and social acceptance [5]-variables that strongly affect SWB [e.g., 6,7]. ...
Does the status people possess shape their subjective well-being (SWB)? Prior research that has addressed this question has been correlational. Therefore, in the current research, we provide causal evidence of this effect: In two experiments, we found that individuals reported higher SWB when their own status was higher compared to when it was lower. However, individuals’ SWB was not only shaped by their own status, but also by others’ status. Specifically, individuals reported higher SWB when others’ status was lower than when it was higher. Thus, people have a competitive orientation towards status; they not only want to have high status on an absolute level (e.g., to be highly respected and admired), but also to have higher status than others (e.g., to be more respected and admired than others). A standard self-affirmation manipulation was used in an attempt to mitigate individuals’ competitive orientation towards status, but only helped already high-status members feel happier in groups of high-status members, rather than help low-status members feel happier when they uniquely held low status.
... Although couples in romantic relationships are increasingly desiring equal relationships, the cultural models of mutual support are not well developed 41 . The imbalance of relationship power incentivizes low-powered individuals to express more gratitude toward high-powered individuals for instrumental purposes 42,43 . Low-powered individuals can thereby fulfill the expectation of being rewarded with more positive experiences 20 . ...
There is a gap in whether relationship power affects the association between gratitude and relationship satisfaction in romantic relationships. Based on the relationship maintenance model and the social distance theory of power, the present study adopted a digital questionnaire design on an online platform to test the mediating role of perceived partner responsiveness between gratitude and satisfaction as well as the moderating role of relationship power. A total of 825 subjects (Mage = 27.2, SD = 10.6; female 46.9%) who had been in romantic relationships for more than six months participated in this study. Overall, the results of the moderator–mediator model indicated that, compared to individuals with low levels of relationship power, the relationship between gratitude and perceived partner responsiveness as well as that between perceived partner responsiveness and relationship satisfaction was weaker among those with high levels of power. These findings are revealing for interventions designed to promote satisfaction between couples with power imbalances.
Prior research on status has focused primarily on the cognitive perspective, exploring the effects of status and offering a limited understanding of the impact of positive status change and its emotional mechanisms. This study draws upon the two-facet model of pride to examine how positive status change influences the behaviors of new status holders. Specifically, we propose that when status differentiation is low, positive status change enhances new status holders' prosocial behavior through their authentic pride, while in cases of high status differentiation, it increases their self-interested behavior through their hubristic pride. To test our hypotheses, we conducted a series of studies, including a laboratory experiment, a scenario experiment, and a time-lagged multilevel and multisource field study. Our multilevel analyses of the data provided strong support for our hypotheses. Our findings shed light on when and why positive status change triggers different behaviors among new status holders, offering important insights into the emotional mechanisms that underlie the effects of status change.
Emotion Recognition Accuracy (ERA) is vital for social functioning and social relationships, yet empirical support for a positive link with well-being has been sparse. In three studies, we show that the Assessment of Contextualized Emotions (ACE) which distinguishes between accurately perceiving intended emotions and bias due to perceiving additional, secondary emotions, consistently predicted personal and social well-being. Across thirteen world cultures, accuracy was associated with higher well-being and life satisfaction, and bias linked to loneliness. A social interaction study in Czech Republic found accuracy (bias) was positively (negatively) associated with social well-being. The effects of accuracy and bias on well-being were partially mediated by social interaction quality in a third study. These findings further our understanding of ERA's social functions.
Prior research finds that hierarchical representation–the vertical distribution of minorities across a hierarchy–can influence team attractiveness. Extending these findings, we offer a novel account for why these perceptions arise: teams with minorities clustered in low-ranking positions are perceived as less diverse and more conflict-prone than equally diverse teams with hierarchical representation. Across five studies (N = 2946), participants perceived teams with low hierarchical representation as less attractive than teams with hierarchical representation, regardless of participant race. Teams with low hierarchical representation were considered just as unattractive as teams with lower numerical diversity (Study 2). Individuals also underestimated the percentage of Black employees present in teams with low hierarchical representation, signaling a “diversity deflation” effect (Study 3). Conversely, teams with hierarchical representation were considered as attractive as diverse teams with flatter hierarchies (Study 4). The effect of hierarchical representation on attractiveness weakens for teams portrayed as conflict-laden (Study 5).
Organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) refers to voluntary actions members take to benefit organizational function. However, the benefits of OCB for organizations are sometimes countered by detriments for employees who exhibit them, resulting in threats to organizational members’ psychological wellbeing. The present research examined whether social power—the perceived ability to control allocations and outcomes in a social hierarchy—could increase OCB endorsement while buffering against negative personal costs. Indeed, manipulated social power enhanced OCB endorsement. This effect was mediated by increased positive affect and goal seeking among participants assigned to a high-power condition relative to participants assigned to a low-power condition. Further, participants assigned to a high-power (vs. low-power) condition did not report increased occupational burden despite their greater OCB endorsement. Patterns of results were similar among a sample of community members ( N = 149; M age = 37 years) and a sample of university students ( N = 129; M age = 20 years). Organizations might empower members by employing procedural justice principles that facilitate members’ meaningful contributions to workplace operations.
The impact of an actor's status on corporate ethical issues has been debated in strategy management. Drawing on upper echelons theory and status theory, our study aims to address this theoretical puzzle by examining how an entrepreneur's socioeconomic status affects a firm's engagement in positive environmental conduct and negative environmental misconduct, as well as the moderating effects of family ownership in China's emerging economy. Our analysis of 3281 private firms from a national survey in China reveals that an entrepreneur's socioeconomic status not only promotes corporate environmental conduct but also stimulates environmental misconduct. These effects are more pronounced in firms with higher levels of family ownership. By uncovering the complex impact of an entrepreneur's socioeconomic status on corporate environmental actions, our study contributes novel insights to the environmental management literature.
Power disparity, as an important form of internal team hierarchy, presents a "double-edged sword effect". To reconcile the inconsistent effects and systematically explore the different mechanisms of power disparity, this study constructs a comprehensive theoretical model based on power functionalism and power conflict theory, with team coordination and team conflict as dual mediators, and power legitimacy as moderator. By collecting valid questionnaires from 76 teams across 27 different types of companies in various regions, statistical analysis and hypothesis testing were conducted on the data. The results conclude that power disparity positively influences team innovation performance through the team coordination path and negatively affects it through the team conflict path. However, under the moderating effect of power legitimacy, the negative effect of the team conflict path is suppressed, and the positive effect of the team coordination path is strengthened, thus ensuring that power disparity has a positive effect on team innovation performance. This study provides a useful reference for designing the power hierarchy within enterprises, and offers profound insights into effective organizational structure and decision-making processes.
Extant research on stars has demonstrated stars’ immense direct and indirect contributions to value creation, yet it lags behind strategy scholarship, which has emphasized the dynamic nature of value creation associated with firms’ core resources. In particular, we lack knowledge regarding how stars’ knowledge creation varies across a star’s career. Drawing on insights from the stars and careers literatures, we develop theoretical arguments that suggest that over their careers, stars shift focus from emphasizing personal attainment and status to prioritizing legacy building—shifts that we predict will correspond to decreases in stars’ relative individual productivity and conveyance of explicit knowledge spillovers to collaborators (which reinforce stars’ status) and increases in stars’ relative conveyance of tacit knowledge spillovers (that aid in colleagues’ development) as stars advance in career tenure. We test our hypotheses through the analysis of patenting activities spanning the years 2000-2022, 291 firms, and 214,398 inventors, cumulating to more than 1,210,989 inventor-year observations. Through the integration of temporal and psychological perspectives in our consideration of stars’ multiple contributions to knowledge creation over their careers, we bring our understanding of stars into alignment with insights related to the dynamic value creation associated with firms’ resources and advance knowledge on stars’ roles in the micro-foundations of human capital-based competitive advantage.
Unclarity remains in current literature pertaining to the effects and specific processes of humble leadership, calling for more in-depth reviews for boosting the understanding. Our research focuses on follower performance as an important outcome of humble leadership and aims to conduct a meta-analysis to uncover the mechanisms beneath the effecting process. Integrating social exchange theory and social cognitive theory, we proposed that follower's relationship with the leader and their belief in themselves, respectively acting as relational and cognitive mechanisms, would sequentially mediate the relationship between humble leadership and follower performance, including task performance and organizational citizenship behavior. We adopted meta-analytic structural equation modeling (MASEM) to examine our hypotheses and gained empirical support from the results. With the synthesis of literature, this article exerts to unfold the effecting process and potential mechanisms of humble leadership on follower performance, anticipating to make several theoretical contributions and practical implications as well as providing insights for future research.
This paper explores the relationship between narcissism and prosocial behavior, challenging the mainstream view that narcissism typically undermines prosocial actions. We argue that in collectivist cultures, where social harmony and interdependence are central, narcissistic traits can manifest as prosocial behavior, driven by the pursuit of social status. This dynamic is moderated by interdependent self‐construal, which ties personal identity to group relationships. To substantiate our claim, we conducted four comprehensive studies. Study 1 ( N = 425) analyzed the cross‐cultural variance in the relationship between narcissism and prosocial behavior. Studies 2A ( N = 244) and 2B ( N = 295) accessed and manipulated the interdependent self‐construal individuals in both Eastern and Western cultural settings to explore the moderating role of cultural tendencies. Study 3 ( N = 605) explored a moderated mediation model to explore the mechanisms underpinning the facilitated effect of narcissism on prosocial behavior through the social status pursuit. Our research shows that in collectivist settings, narcissism can fuel prosocial behaviors, moderated by interdependent self‐construal, which connects narcissism to prosocial behavior through the desire for social status. This breakthrough deepens our understanding of narcissism within cultural contexts, highlighting the importance of considering cultural factors in psychological research and offering new insights into the diverse expressions of personality traits across societies.
This research examines outcomes associated with the misalignment of power and expertise. Using interactive groups, we found that it was specifically the combination of providing performance feedback and then assigning power to the worst member that led to negative outcomes, not merely that the worst performer held decision power. A follow-up study verified that veridical feedback improved people’s ability to identify expertise. Across two additional studies, we found that known misalignment of decision power and performance decreased perceived fairness and expectations of success. We posit that when members know that power and expertise are misaligned, decision making and performance suffer.
Women are unequally represented in the highest positions in society. Beyond discrimination and bias, women are missing from the top because they are less likely to pursue high-ranking opportunities. We propose that experience is a critical moderator of gender differences in pursuing leadership opportunities, with low-experience women being particularly unlikely to seek higher level positions. We used field analyses of 96 years of U.S. senator and governor elections to examine male and female politicians’ propensity to run for higher political offices. As predicted, among those with little political experience, women were less likely than men to run for higher office, but experience closed this gender gap. A preregistered experiment among U.S.-based adults replicated the field findings and revealed that it was the increased self-confidence of experienced women that reduced the gender gap. The findings suggest experience, and the self-confidence that comes with it, is one lever for closing the gender gap in seeking to climb professional hierarchies.
Purpose
Pets reflect the identity and moral values of their owners. The purpose of this study is to examine how pet owners’ political identity (liberal–conservative) influences the relationship they forge with their pets as well as their purchase behaviors of pet-related products and services.
Design/methodology/approach
This study conducted two surveys of pet owners with different political identities and measured both their relationship with their pets and their purchase intentions of medical-related products and services as well as luxury accessories. Two secondary data sources were used to provide additional support.
Findings
This study shows that, on one hand, pet owners anthropomorphize their pets as if they were human equals. On the other hand, they consider themselves masters and emphasize control. The former aligns with the individualizing values endorsed by liberals, while the latter aligns with conservatives’ binding values. Reflecting their different values and owner-pet relationship characteristics, liberals and conservatives exhibit different purchase patterns. Liberals are more likely to buy medical-related products and services, while conservatives are more likely to buy branded luxury accessories for their pets.
Research limitations/implications
Both primary studies are survey-based and data are correlational in nature. In addition, the samples are limited to the USA. While research suggests that the liberal-conservative continuum is universal, additional research is needed to generalize the findings to other countries.
Practical implications
Understanding the owner-dog relationship in the context of political identity and the effect of these relationships on dog owners' purchases offer interesting managerial implications in terms of product offerings, retail assortment decisions of related products and pet product branding.
Originality/value
While dog ownership and related purchases are on the rise, research on owner-pet relationships is scant. This study provides theoretical contributions and implications by going beyond general relationship closeness and bringing in the role of owners’ (political) identity.
This research investigates whether racially dominant (White) and minoritized group members (Black) differentially evaluate intergroup harm in ambiguous (vs. overt) acts of cultural appropriation (the aversive racism hypothesis), due to attributions of positive intentions to the target (the intent as justification hypothesis). Four experiments (N = 1020, 3 preregistered) and an internal meta-analysis converge to demonstrate that White perceivers evaluated less harm than Black perceivers in ambiguous acts of cultural appropriation. Attributions of positive intent served as a mechanism underlying this effect; naturally-occurring variations in positive intent mediated the link between participant race and harm evaluations (Studies 2 & 3), and experimentally manipulating target intent altered harm evaluations as well as motivations for collective action (Study 4). Findings integrate work from multiple academic disciplines with insights from contemporary theories of prejudice to suggest that perceivers’ attributions of positive intent can obscure their evaluations of harm in acts of cultural appropriation.
We investigate the association between CEO power and firm risk at the onset of the global financial crisis in 2007 and the COVID-19 pandemic health crisis in 2020. Examining an international sample of publicly listed firms in the G7 nations between 2006 and 2021, we show that firms led by CEOs with greater power are exposed to higher risk than firms led by CEOs with lesser power. The result is primarily driven by the impact of CEO power on idiosyncratic risk rather than systematic risk. Further, we find that powerful CEOs tend to be more cautious and conservative during crises that they have no reference for or experience of, as in the case of the pandemic, during which the positive power–risk associations are less pronounced. Nevertheless, the power–risk association remains relatively unchanged during the more familiar financial crisis. This study has important implications for firms, investors, regulators, and policymakers.
Although previous studies pointed towards a positive association of ethical leadership and team performance, we suggest that ethical leadership may have unintended, paradoxical effects on interpersonal dynamics within the team, and, ultimately, team performance. Drawing on social information processing theory, we propose that ethical leadership can be a mixed blessing, with paradoxical impacts on team performance via two distinct pathways—task and relationship conflicts, contingent upon the team's informal power disparity. Specifically, we propose that ethical leadership has a positive indirect effect on team performance via reducing relationship conflict but a negative indirect effect on team performance via suppressing task conflict. Those indirect effects are more pronounced when the team has a more egalitarian power structure among their members. Results from a three‐wave field study, in which we surveyed 90 work teams in China, provided support for our conceptual model. Our findings reveal the benefits and costs of ethical leadership and the importance of examining informal power disparity in this leadership process.
Against the backdrop of driving global economic sustainability, corporate Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) performance has gradually emerged as a crucial theoretical and practical concern. This study aims to enrich the theoretical understanding of the correlation between corporate governance and ESG. Notably, the theoretical contribution is based on the relational contract theory, indicating the significance of the informal structure and implicit characteristics of the board of directors for corporate ESG performance. Using Chinese listed firms as samples, this study empirically examines and reveals a positive correlation between the informal board hierarchy and corporate ESG performance. Moreover, based on theoretical deduction, this study identifies internal control, innovation efficiency, and financial performance as important mechanisms through which the informal board hierarchy promotes corporate ESG performance. Further analysis indicates that in firms characterized by higher board interaction, lower shareholding concentration, and the combination of the roles of chairman and CEO, the promoting effect of the informal hierarchy on corporate ESG becomes significantly more pronounced. Our findings contribute to the understanding of relational contract theory in the field of corporate sustainability, enriching the literature on corporate governance and ESG, and providing decision‐making references and practical insights for optimizing corporate development.
Creating opportunities for people to achieve socioeconomic mobility is a widely shared societal goal. Paradoxically, however, achieving this goal can pose a threat to high-socioeconomic-status (SES) people as they look to maintain their privileged positions in society for both them and their children. Two studies evaluate whether this threat manifests as “opportunity hoarding” in which high-SES parents adopt attitudes and behaviors aimed at shoring up their families’ access to valuable educational and economic resources. The current paper provides converging evidence for this hypothesis across two studies conducted with 2,557 American parents. An initial correlational study demonstrated that believing that socioeconomic mobility is possible was associated with high-SES parents being more inclined to attempt to secure valuable educational and economic resources for their children, even when doing so came at the cost of low-SES families. Specifically, high-SES parents with stronger beliefs in socioeconomic mobility exhibited decreased support for redistributive policies and viewed engaging in discrete behaviors that would unfairly advantage their children (e.g., allowing them to misrepresent their identities on school and job applications) as more acceptable relative to both low-SES parents with similar beliefs and high-SES parents who were less optimistic about socioeconomic mobility. A subsequent experimental study established these relationships causally by comparing parents’ responses to different types of socioeconomic mobility. Together, the current findings merge insights across psychology and economics to deepen understandings of the processes through which societal inequities emerge and persist, especially during times of apparently abundant opportunity.
This research examines how national cultural differences between the acquirer and target firms affect post-acquisition performance in cross-border acquisitions. We focus on two dimensions of national culture—individualism/collectivism (IDV) and power distance (PDI)—for their close relevance to structural changes that occur during post-acquisition integration. We find that while differences in PDI are negatively associated with post-acquisition performance, differences in IDV positively affect such performance. We also find that the acquirer’s cultural learning from supply chain partners helps mitigate the negative impact of PDI differences on post-acquisition performance, especially when the partner has a similar national culture in PDI to the target. Our theoretical development and empirical findings contribute to the operations and supply chain management research by illuminating the differential effects of national cultural differences on post-integration outcomes. Also, our study sheds new light on the possibility that working with supply chain partners may provide an opportunity for cultural learning that can be utilized in a post-acquisition integration setting.
Negative performance feedback is vital for stimulating employees to enhance their performance despite resulting in stress and adverse work outcomes. Fortunately, artificial intelligence (AI)‐enabled automated agents have gradually assumed certain functions led by human leaders, such as providing feedback. Drawing from regulatory focus theory, we propose that AI‐based feedback systems can serve as a “remediation” tool, effectively mitigating employees' apprehensions about receiving negative feedback. In two studies, we found that for employees who fear losing face, AI‐based negative feedback motivates promotion‐focused cognition—motivation to learn—representing a learning mechanism to promote job performance and impedes their prevention‐focused cognition—interpersonal rumination—reducing the depletion needed for job performance. These findings present novel perspectives on using AI in performance feedback.
This chapter develops your global leadership and English language management skills for best-practice virtual team collaboration. Global leadership is essential to those global virtual teams which are characterized by worldwide dispersion and cross-national cultural diversity and cannot meet in person. They therefore require specific, culturally-sensitive leadership practices that overcome the limitations of their extensive usage of Information and Communications Technologies. The English language is the collaborative means of various types of teams. If mismanaged, the English language distorts competency and position power, results in language closures and obstructs team-development, and you will learn how to prevent negative and leverage positive English-language effects.
Presents an integrative theoretical framework to explain and to predict psychological changes achieved by different modes of treatment. This theory states that psychological procedures, whatever their form, alter the level and strength of self-efficacy. It is hypothesized that expectations of personal efficacy determine whether coping behavior will be initiated, how much effort will be expended, and how long it will be sustained in the face of obstacles and aversive experiences. Persistence in activities that are subjectively threatening but in fact relatively safe produces, through experiences of mastery, further enhancement of self-efficacy and corresponding reductions in defensive behavior. In the proposed model, expectations of personal efficacy are derived from 4 principal sources of information: performance accomplishments, vicarious experience, verbal persuasion, and physiological states. Factors influencing the cognitive processing of efficacy information arise from enactive, vicarious, exhortative, and emotive sources. The differential power of diverse therapeutic procedures is analyzed in terms of the postulated cognitive mechanism of operation. Findings are reported from microanalyses of enactive, vicarious, and emotive modes of treatment that support the hypothesized relationship between perceived self-efficacy and behavioral changes. (21/2 p ref)
Two studies examine complementarity (vs. mimicry) of dominant and submissive nonverbal behaviors. In the first study, participants interacted with a confederate who displayed either dominance (through postural expansion) or submission (through postural constriction). On average. participants exposed to a dominant confederate decreased their postural stance, whereas participants exposed to a submissive confederate increased their stance. Further, participants with complementing response,, (dominance in response to submission and submission in response to dominance) liked their partner more and were more comfortable than those who mimicked. In the second study, complementarity and mimicry were manipulated, and complementarity resulted in more liking and comfort than mimicry. The findings speak to the likelihood of hierarchical differentiation.
Three studies tested basic assumptions derived from a theoretical model based on the dissociation of automatic and controlled processes involved in prejudice. Study 1 supported the model's assumption that high- and low-prejudice persons are equally knowledgeable of the cultural stereotype. The model suggests that the stereotype is automatically activated in the presence of a member (or some symbolic equivalent) of the stereotyped group and that low-prejudice responses require controlled inhibition of the automatically activated stereotype. Study 2, which examined the effects of automatic stereotype activation on the evaluation of ambiguous stereotype-relevant behaviors performed by a race-unspecified person, suggested that when subjects' ability to consciously monitor stereotype activation is precluded, both high- and low-prejudice subjects produce stereotype-congruent evaluations of ambiguous behaviors. Study 3 examined high- and low-prejudice subjects' responses in a consciously directed thought-listing task. Consistent with the model, only low-prejudice subjects inhibited the automatically activated stereotype-congruent thoughts and replaced them with thoughts reflecting equality and negations of the stereotype. The relation between stereotypes and prejudice and implications for prejudice reduction are discussed.
What effects do racism, sexism and other forms of discrimination have on the functioning of organizations? Is there a way of managing organizations such that we can benefit both the members of traditionally disadvantaged groups and the organizations in which they work? Discrimination on the basis of race or gender, whether implicit or explicit, is still commonplace in many organizations. Organizational scholars have long been aware that diversity leads to dysfunctional individual, group, and organizational outcomes. What is not well understood is precisely when and why such negative outcomes occur. In Diversity at Work, leading scholars in psychology, sociology, and management address these issues by presenting innovative theoretical ways of thinking about diversity in organizations. With each contribution challenging existing approaches to the study of organizational diversity, the book sets a demanding agenda for those seeking to create equality in the workplace.
This volume provides a detailed description of the situation of women in employment in the early 1990s and considers how sociological and economic theories of labor markets illuminate the gap in pay between the sexes.
This section presents the third volume of Max Weber's fundamental work Economy and Society which has been translated into Russian for the first time. The third volume includes two works devoted to the sociology of law. The first, 'The Economy and Laws', discusses differences between sociological and juridical approaches to studies of social processes. It describes peculiarities of normative power arenas (orders) at different levels and demonstrates how they influence the economy. The second, 'Economy and Law' ('Sociology of Law'), reviews the evolution of law orders (primarily, the three "greatest systems of law" including Roman Law, Anglo-American Law, and European Continental Law) in the context of changes in the organization of economy and structures of dominancy. Law is considered an influential factor of the rationalization of social life which in turn is affected by a rationalized economy and social management. The Journal of Economic Sociology here publishes an excerpt from the chapter 'Law, Convention and Custom' in this third volume, which shows the role of the habitual in the formation of law; explains the importance of intuition and empathy for the emergence of new orders; and discusses the changeable borders between law, convention and custom. The translation is edited by Leonid Ionin and the chapter is published with the permission of HSE Publishing House. © 2018 National Research University Higher School of Economics. All rights reserved.
John Williams is a black American. On his first day of work at a new job at a mid-size print advertising firm, he arrived early to set up his office, only to find that his “office” was not with the other two new recruits but in the basement, in what was previously a janitor's closet. Displayed prominently on his computer was a noose. Kevin Nakamoto is a Japanese-American, entry-level market analyst who recently transferred to another office. In deciding where to eat for lunch, one of his new co-workers asked if Kevin would mind if they did not have Chinese food. Later that day, another co-worker came by to introduce herself. As they chatted, she assumed that Kevin would be helpful in computer consulting and she volunteered that no one would mind if he was a social loner. Mary Carpenter is a white, 22-year-old interested in construction. For the past six months, she has been unsuccessfully searching for a job. Though she has submitted applications to all jobs for which she felt qualified, she has had no luck. In the same time period, she saw her male friends receive offers in the same field, so she knows the demand is definitely there. McKenzie Wilkes is a married, mother-of-two, successful attorney at a large firm. She is one of the most feared litigators in the courtroom and one of the most referred among her clients. Despite her impressive resumé, she was turned down as a partner at the firm.
I attempt to explain why employees prefer different forms of social exchange by proposing that such preferences align with their identity orientations. I also develop a model outlining how identity orientations play an important role in developing employee exchange relations and how they may help predict the consequences of exchange dynamics. By identifying linkages between identity orientations and forms of social exchange, I hope to stimulate future research on the connections between social exchange theory and the identity orientation framework.
Part I. From There to Here - Theoretical Background: 1. From visiousness to viciousness: theories of intergroup relations 2. Social dominance theory as a new synthesis Part II. Oppression and its Psycho-Ideological Elements: 3. The psychology of group dominance: social dominance orientation 4. Let's both agree that you're really stupid: the power of consensual ideology Part III. The Circle of Oppression - The Myriad Expressions of Institutional Discrimination: 5. You stay in your part of town and I'll stay in mine: discrimination in the housing and retail markets 6. They're just too lazy to work: discrimination in the labor market 7. They're just mentally and physically unfit: discrimination in education and health care 8. The more of 'them' in prison, the better: institutional terror, social control and the dynamics of the criminal justice system Part IV. Oppression as a Cooperative Game: 9. Social hierarchy and asymmetrical group behavior: social hierarchy and group difference in behavior 10. Sex and power: the intersecting political psychologies of patriarchy and empty-set hierarchy 11. Epilogue.
Three vignette studies examined stereotypes of the emotions associated with high- and low-status group members. In Study 1a, participants believed that in negative situations, high-status people feel more angry than sad or guilty and that low-status people feel more sad and guilty than angry. Study 1b showed that in response to positive outcomes, high-status people are expected to feel more pride and low-status people are expected to feel more appreciation. Study 2 showed that people also infer status from emotions: Angry and proud people are thought of as high status, whereas sad, guilty, and appreciative people are considered low status. The authors argue that these emotion stereotypes are due to differences in the inferred abilities of people in high and low positions. These perceptions lead to expectations about agency appraisals and emotions related to agency appraisals. In Study 3, the authors found support for this process by manipulating perceptions of skill and finding the same differences in emotion expectations.
Power is a dirty word in our culture’s lexicon. Like sex and death, it is not considered an appropriate topic for polite conversation. And yet, like the facts of life and death, it is ubiquitous in human social life. This paradox is partly explained by our unwillingness to acknowledge the full impact of power differentials on our daily interactions. Acknowledging the impact of power would be to confront our own lack of control as a result of unequal power. As with sex and death, many people in Western culture (or at least those of us who are New Englanders) consequently prefer not to think about it. On a broader scale, the democratic dream is that all of us are equals. Acknowledging the existing power inequities therefore jeopardizes our most cherished shared illusions about the mechanisms of our society. Social psychologists, however, should not be so constrained, and indeed, should be intrigued by such a central feature of society, which is also such a strong motivator of people’s thoughts, feelings, and behavior toward each other. This chapter develops a cognitive-motivational analysis of the impact of power, focusing on the powerless. As such, we will emphasize how power differentials constitute a social-structural form of control deprivation.
A special case of self-fulfilling prophecy (SFP), the Pygmalion effect is the enhanced performance of subordinates of whom supervisors expect more. Pygmalion research in military and training situations is reviewed. Presented is a model of SFP at work involving supervisory expectancy, leadership, subordinate self-expectancy, motivation, and performance. Issues for future research and application are discussed, including how to raise expectations, which subordinates are influenced most, positive and negative Pygmalion, and ethical concerns.
This article develops a model of how workers perceive each other at work, and shows why subordinate workers underevaluate their fellow subordinates and overevaluate their managers. The guiding thesis is that (1) organizational factors systematically bias the information that actors have about each other, and (2) cognitive and motivational limits on the ability to process information do not allow actors to correct for the biased source of their information. The main hypothesis tested is that those who are high in an organizational hierarchy and who do high-skill-level tasks are perceived more favorably on selected role-related traits than are others of equal ability in the organization. The hypothesis is tested by creating an experimental corporate office. As predicted, clerks rate managers more favorably on selected traits than they rate fellow clerks, even though subjects were assigned to the two roles on a random basis. A structural-cognitive model best accounts for the results.
This paper analyzes data describing jobs in 100 establishments in order to test hypotheses about the characteristics of jobs and organizations associated with the structure of internal promotion ladders. The diversity of labor market arrangements found within the organizations indicates only weak support for hypotheses linking internal labor markets to organizational or sectoral imperatives. At the job level, however, there is support for hypotheses linking job ladders to firm-specific skills, organizational structure, gender distinctions, technology, occupational differentiation, the institutional environment, and the interests of unions. The paper concludes with an examination of how promotion ladders are formed from clusters of jobs associated with each other by occupation, skill, or gender composition.
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