POTENTIAL POWER AND POWER USE: AN INVESTIGATION OF STRUCTURE AND BEHAVIOR.

TLDR

Power research in organizations is fragmented between micro‑level behavioral studies and macro‑level contextual analyses, creating a complex but comprehensive view of the phenomenon. Structural position and various behavior‑use tactics independently and significantly predict perceived power, with partial mediation by structure and behavior and notable interaction effects.

Abstract

behavioral tactics. Results indicate that structural position, measured as an individual's network centrality and level in the organizational hierarchy, and behavior-use of assertiveness, ingratiation, exchange, upward appeal, rationality, and coalition formation-relate independently and significantly to others' perceptions of the individual's power. In addition, structure partially mediated the relationship between behavior and power, and the behavioral strategies partially mediated the structure-power relationship. Significant interaction effects were also found. The study of power in organizations has been both plagued and blessed by the multitude of theories and approaches that have been offered. Although the variety of approaches makes convergence difficult, consideration of its subtle complexities leads to a more comprehensive overview of the phenomenon of power. However, the proliferation of conceptual subtleties has also resulted in a fragmentation of empirical research (Astley & Sachdeva, 1984). Nowhere is this more evident than in the research agendas of organizational psychologists, who take a micro-level view, and organizational sociologists, who take a macro-level view. Micro research has focused on the behavior of individuals, macro research on the larger organizational context. In investigating power in organizations, the micro-macro split is exemplified in the distinction between potential power and power use.