When Power Hurts: Task‐dependent Resource Control Creates Temporary Discomfort that Motivates Helping Behaviour

Date01 September 2019
Published date01 September 2019
DOIhttp://doi.org/10.1002/cjas.1499
When Power Hurts: Task-dependent Resource
Control Creates Temporary Discomfort that
Motivates Helping Behaviour
Christopher Poile*
University of Saskatchewan
Abstract
This study investigated why workers in a position of power
are motivated to help their dependent co-workers. Previous
research has assumed that powerful workers would experi-
ence increased behavioural approach and disinhibition,
leading to self‌ishness and lower levels of help. However, this
assumption fails to explain the helping behaviour often
observed at work. In this study, 563 participants wereplaced
in situations of power across three experiments, which mea-
sured helpfulness, discomfort, and behavioural approach
and inhibition. The results suggest that power creates
psychological discomfort, which mediates helping
behaviour. Providing help reduced feelings of discomfort.
This study helps reconcile previous mixed f‌indings when
applying power theories to work situations, and tested a
new discomfort-reduction explanation for helping behav-
iour. Copyright © 2018 ASAC. Published by John Wiley &
Sons, Ltd.
Keywords: power, task dependence, citizenship behaviour,
helping, behavioural approach and inhibition, experiment,
mediation analysis
Résumé
Lauteur de cette étude examine les raisons qui poussent les
travailleurs en position de pouvoir à aider leurs collègues
dépendants. Dans les recherches antérieures, on postule
que les travailleurs puissants feraient lexpérience dune
approche comportementale et dune désinhibition accrues,
ce qui déboucherait sur légoïsme et sur des niveaux daide
moins élevés. Cependant, une telle hypothèse ne rend pas
compte du comportement daide souvent observé au travail.
Dans cette étude, 563 participants sont placés dans des sit-
uations de pouvoir dans trois expériences mesurant lutilité,
linconfort, lapproche comportementale et linhibition. Les
résultats suggèrent que le pouvoir crée un inconfort
psychologique qui sert de médiateurdans les comportements
daide. Fournir de laide contribue à réduire les sensations
dinconfort. Létude permet de réconcilier les résultats
mitigés antérieurs auxquels a débouché lapplication des
théories du pouvoir aux situations de travail et de tester
une nouvelle explication de la réduction de linconfort con-
sécutive au comportement daide. Copyright © 2018 ASAC.
Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Mots-clés: pouvoir, dépendance aux tâches, comportement
citoyen, aide, approche comportementale et inhibition, ana-
lyse de la médiation
Introduction
Being in a position of powerhaving asymmetric con-
trol over valued resourceschanges a person. Power holders
feel powerful (Anderson & Berdahl, 2002). They see others as
a means to achieve their own goals (Gruenfeld, Inesi, Magee,
& Galinsky, 2008), and feel liberated from norms, and so-
cially distant from their dependents (Magee & Smith,
2013). As a result, power holders tend to act self‌ishly (Blader
& Chen, 2012). Using this research as a foundation, organiza-
tional scholars have assumed resource controllers at work
will experience power, feel uninhibited, and will tend to act
self‌ishly (for instance, Bowler & Brass, 2006; de Jong, Van
der Vegt, & Molleman, 2007; Van der Vegt, de Jong,
Bunderson, & Molleman, 2010). Because he or she has more
and needs less from their dependent co-workers, the higher
inf‌luence actor clearly has little to gain from providing ser-
vices to the low-inf‌luence individual(Bowler & Brass,
2006, p. 73). According to this perspective, resource control
at work should motivate lower levels of help. This is an im-
portant issue because imbalanced control over valued re-
sources is common at work (Van der Vegt et al., 2010).
*Please address correspondence to: Christopher Poile, Department of HR
and OB, PotashCorp Centre, 25 Campus Drive, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan,
Canada, S7N 5A7. Email: cpoile@gmail.com
Canadian Journal of Administrative Sciences
Revue canadienne des sciences de ladministration
36: 350362 (2019)
Published online 20 May 2018 in Wiley Online Library (wileyonlinelibrary.com) DOI: 10.1002/CJAS.1499
Can J Adm Sci
36(3), 350362 (2019)Copyright © 2018 ASAC. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. 350

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