IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/inm/ororsc/v27y2016i1p123-140.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

When the Bases of Social Hierarchy Collide: Power Without Status Drives Interpersonal Conflict

Author

Listed:
  • Eric M. Anicich

    (Columbia Business School, Columbia University, New York, New York 10027)

  • Nathanael J. Fast

    (Marshall School of Business, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California 90089)

  • Nir Halevy

    (Graduate School of Business, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305)

  • Adam D. Galinsky

    (Columbia Business School, Columbia University, New York, New York 10027)

Abstract

Leveraging the social hierarchy literature, the present research offers a role-based account of the antecedents of interpersonal conflict. Specifically, we suggest that the negative feelings and emotions resulting from the experience of occupying a low-status position interact with the action-facilitating effects of power to produce vicious cycles of interpersonal conflict and demeaning behavior. Five studies demonstrate that power without status leads to interpersonal conflict and demeaning treatment, both in specific dyadic work relationships and among organizational members more broadly. Study 1 provides initial support for the prediction that employees in low-status/high-power roles engage in more conflict with coworkers than all other combinations of status and power. In Studies 2a and 2b, a yoked experimental design replicated this effect and established low-status/high-power roles as a direct source of the interpersonal conflict and demeaning treatment. Study 3 used an experimental manipulation of relative status and power within specific dyadic relationships in the workplace and found evidence of a vicious cycle of interpersonal conflict and demeaning treatment within any dyad that included a low-status/high-power individual. Finally, Study 4 utilized survey and human resource data from a large government agency to replicate the power without status effect on interpersonal conflict and demonstrate that power interacts with subjective status change to produce a similar effect; increasing the status of a high-power role reduces conflict whereas decreasing its status increases conflict. Taken together, these findings offer a role-based account of interpersonal conflict and highlight the importance of making a theoretical distinction between status and power.

Suggested Citation

  • Eric M. Anicich & Nathanael J. Fast & Nir Halevy & Adam D. Galinsky, 2016. "When the Bases of Social Hierarchy Collide: Power Without Status Drives Interpersonal Conflict," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 27(1), pages 123-140, February.
  • Handle: RePEc:inm:ororsc:v:27:y:2016:i:1:p:123-140
    DOI: 10.1287/orsc.2015.1019
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1287/orsc.2015.1019
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1287/orsc.2015.1019?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Hoffman Elizabeth & McCabe Kevin & Shachat Keith & Smith Vernon, 1994. "Preferences, Property Rights, and Anonymity in Bargaining Games," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 7(3), pages 346-380, November.
    2. James B. Wade & Charles A. O'Reilly & Timothy G. Pollock, 2006. "Overpaid CEOs and Underpaid Managers: Fairness and Executive Compensation," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 17(5), pages 527-544, October.
    3. Aquino, Karl & Douglas, Scott, 2003. "Identity threat and antisocial behavior in organizations: The moderating effects of individual differences, aggressive modeling, and hierarchical status," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 90(1), pages 195-208, January.
    4. Singh-Manoux, Archana & Adler, Nancy E. & Marmot, Michael G., 2003. "Subjective social status: its determinants and its association with measures of ill-health in the Whitehall II study," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 56(6), pages 1321-1333, March.
    5. J. Stuart Bunderson & Ray E. Reagans, 2011. "Power, Status, and Learning in Organizations," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 22(5), pages 1182-1194, October.
    6. Stewart Clegg & David Courpasson & Nelson Phillips, 2006. "Power and organizations," Post-Print hal-02298067, HAL.
    7. Tsedal B. Neeley, 2013. "Language Matters: Status Loss and Achieved Status Distinctions in Global Organizations," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 24(2), pages 476-497, April.
    8. Corinne Bendersky & Nicholas A. Hays, 2012. "Status Conflict in Groups," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 23(2), pages 323-340, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Emma C. E. Heine & Jeroen Stouten & Robert C. Liden, 2023. "Providing Service During a Merger: The Role of Organizational Goal Clarity and Servant Leadership," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 184(3), pages 627-647, May.
    2. Jin, Shuxian & Spadaro, Giuliana & Balliet, Daniel, 2024. "Institutions and Cooperation: A Meta-Analysis of Structural Features in Social Dilemmas," OSF Preprints 9r2qb, Center for Open Science.
    3. To, Christopher & Leslie, Lisa M. & Torelli, Carlos J. & Stoner, Jennifer L., 2020. "Culture and social hierarchy: Collectivism as a driver of the relationship between power and status," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 157(C), pages 159-176.
    4. Schaerer, Michael & Foulk, Trevor & du Plessis, Christilene & Tu, Min-Hsuan & Krishnan, Satish, 2021. "Just because you're powerless doesn't mean they aren't out to get you: Low power, paranoia, and aggression," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 165(C), pages 1-20.
    5. Kim, Tami & Sezer, Ovul & Schroeder, Juliana & Risen, Jane & Gino, Francesca & Norton, Michael I., 2021. "Work group rituals enhance the meaning of work," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 165(C), pages 197-212.
    6. Hart, Einav & Schweitzer, Maurice E., 2020. "Getting to less: When negotiating harms post-agreement performance," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 156(C), pages 155-175.
    7. Yu, Andrew & Hays, Nicholas A. & Zhao, Emma Y., 2019. "Development of a bipartite measure of social hierarchy: The perceived power and perceived status scales," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 152(C), pages 84-104.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Matteo Prato & Fabrizio Ferraro, 2018. "Starstruck: How Hiring High-Status Employees Affects Incumbents’ Performance," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 29(5), pages 755-774, October.
    2. Jennifer Carson Marr & Nathan Pettit & Stefan Thau, 2019. "After the Fall: How Perceived Self-Control Protects the Legitimacy of Higher-Ranking Employees After Status Loss," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 30(6), pages 1165-1188, November.
    3. Ya-Ru Chen & Randall S. Peterson & Damon J. Phillips & Joel M. Podolny & Cecilia L. Ridgeway, 2012. "Introduction to the Special Issue: Bringing Status to the Table—Attaining, Maintaining, and Experiencing Status in Organizations and Markets," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 23(2), pages 299-307, April.
    4. Gavin J. Kilduff & Robb Willer & Cameron Anderson, 2016. "Hierarchy and Its Discontents: Status Disagreement Leads to Withdrawal of Contribution and Lower Group Performance," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 27(2), pages 373-390, April.
    5. Anne Laure Humbert & Elisabeth Anna Guenther & Jörg Müller, 2021. "Not Simply ‘Counting Heads’: A Gender Diversity Index for the Team Level," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 157(2), pages 689-707, September.
    6. Sam Garg & Qiang (John) Li & Jason D. Shaw, 2018. "Undervaluation of directors in the board hierarchy: Impact on turnover of directors (and CEOs) in newly public firms," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 39(2), pages 429-457, February.
    7. Tsedal B. Neeley, 2013. "Language Matters: Status Loss and Achieved Status Distinctions in Global Organizations," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 24(2), pages 476-497, April.
    8. Alyson Byrne & Julian Barling, 2017. "When She Brings Home the Job Status: Wives’ Job Status, Status Leakage, and Marital Instability," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 28(2), pages 177-192, April.
    9. Guangxi Zhang & Jianan Zhong & Muammer Ozer, 2020. "Status Threat and Ethical Leadership: A Power-Dependence Perspective," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 161(3), pages 665-685, January.
    10. Pettit, Nathan C. & Doyle, Sarah P. & Kim, Hee Young & Hurwitz, Anat, 2022. "Rank extrapolation: Asymmetric forecasts of future rank after rank change," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 169(C).
    11. Gibson, Kerry Roberts & Harari, Dana & Marr, Jennifer Carson, 2018. "When sharing hurts: How and why self-disclosing weakness undermines the task-oriented relationships of higher status disclosers," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 144(C), pages 25-43.
    12. Pettit, Nathan C. & Doyle, Sarah P. & Lount, Robert B. & To, Christopher, 2016. "Cheating to get ahead or to avoid falling behind? The effect of potential negative versus positive status change on unethical behavior," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 137(C), pages 172-183.
    13. Claudia M. Landeo & Kathryn E. Spier, 2016. "Stipulated Damages as a Rent-Extraction Mechanism: Experimental Evidence," Journal of Institutional and Theoretical Economics (JITE), Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen, vol. 172(2), pages 235-273, June.
    14. Simon G�chter & Arno Riedl, "undated". "Moral Property Rights in Bargaining," IEW - Working Papers 113, Institute for Empirical Research in Economics - University of Zurich.
    15. Ralph W. Bailey & Jürgen Eichberger & David Kelsey, 2005. "Ambiguity and Public Good Provision in Large Societies," Journal of Public Economic Theory, Association for Public Economic Theory, vol. 7(5), pages 741-759, December.
    16. Christoph Engel & Michael Kurschilgen, 2011. "Fairness Ex Ante and Ex Post: Experimentally Testing Ex Post Judicial Intervention into Blockbuster Deals," Journal of Empirical Legal Studies, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 8(4), pages 682-708, December.
    17. Güth, W., 1997. "Boundedly Rational Decision Emergence -A General Perspective and Some Selective Illustrations-," SFB 373 Discussion Papers 1997,29, Humboldt University of Berlin, Interdisciplinary Research Project 373: Quantification and Simulation of Economic Processes.
    18. Burks, Stephen V. & Carpenter, Jeffrey P. & Verhoogen, Eric, 2003. "Playing both roles in the trust game," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 51(2), pages 195-216, June.
    19. Florian Becker-Ritterspach & Christoph Dörrenbächer, 2011. "An Organizational Politics Perspective on Intra-firm Competition in Multinational Corporations," Management International Review, Springer, vol. 51(4), pages 533-559, August.
    20. Dickinson, David L. & Masclet, David, 2019. "Using ethical dilemmas to predict antisocial choices with real payoff consequences: An experimental study," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 166(C), pages 195-215.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    power; status; hierarchy; conflict;
    All these keywords.

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:inm:ororsc:v:27:y:2016:i:1:p:123-140. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Chris Asher (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/inforea.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.