Building Organization Theory from First Principles: The Self-Enhancement Motive and Understanding Power and Influence

Abstract

I n developing and advancing organization theory, it is useful if we can uncover fundamental constructs that can then be used to integrate larger areas of inquiry, even as we continue to accumulate more knowledge, evidence, and concepts. However, accomplishing this will require a somewhat different approach to theory building and testing. We illustrate the process of building an integrated model from fundamental constructs by using the idea of self-enhancement to explore phenomena of power and influence. We argue that many psychological processes related to power and social influence (such as escalation of commitment, similarity attraction and in-group favoritism, the disinhibiting effects of power, and the persistence of hierarchical structures) can all be logically derived from the self-enhancement idea, the desire to see oneself and one's actions in a positive light. The conceptual model can help us understand apparently anomalous behavior (such as individuals being willing to tolerate poor treatment at the hands of leaders), bringing together a number of ideas and constructs frequently treated as distinct in the literature and providing some hypotheses for future research.

Power, competitiveness, and advice taking: Why the powerful don’t listen

“…To preserver power, high power individuals often look for traits or characteristics in others that they can construe as justifying their disproportionate amount of power (e.g., Goodwin, Gubin, Fiske, & Yzerbyt, 2000;Goodwin, Operario, & Fiske, 1998). Because the desire to maintain power is driven in part by self-enhancement (Pfeffer & Fong, 2005), an affront to the self-esteem of high power individuals is likely to result in the powerholder experiencing feelings of aggression toward the source of the threat (Fast & Chen, 2009). …”

The Role of Power in Financial Statement Fraud Schemes

“…Personal power is likely to be inversely related to pressure. An individual that is high in power feels in control of his or her outcomes and is less susceptible to external pressure (Pfeffer and Fong, 2005). Power tends to reduce the threat of losses (Inesi, 2010) which alters the motivational mechanisms within individuals.…”

Is Leadership Part of Me? An Identity Approach to Understanding the Motivation to Lead

“…Singer (1991) reported that a closed list of leadership attributes did not account for the observed variance in the leadership aspirations of individuals. A possible explanation for the lack of significance was that the specific attributes on the closed list might not be relevant to all participants (Pfeffer & Fong, 2005). She suggested that idiographic approaches that capture significant leadership attributes might be more appropriate.…”