Perceived Effectiveness of Influence Strategies in the United States and Three Chinese Societies

Abstract

This study explored the perceived effectiveness of organizational influence strategies amongst three Chinese societies and the US. A total of 488 managers rated 16 influence tactics on their effectiveness across three influence directions - upward, downward and lateral. Consistently, these 16 tactics fell into two broad dimensions of influence - the more nurturing Gentle Persuasion (GP) and the more agentic Contingent Control (CC). The perceived effectiveness of GP increased with higher position power of the target, and vice versa for CC. No cultural differences were found for the rated effectiveness of CC. However, regardless of the influence direction, Americans managers rated GP as most effective; Mainland Chinese, the least. Hierarchical regression analyses indicated that Reward for Application predicted a manager’s endorsement of GP as more effective, and Fate Control of CC. The effect of Fate Control on CC was, however, moderated by culture, exemplifying culture’s sensitizing role in directing member responses.