Enjoying influence on others: Congruently high implicit and explicit power motives are related to teachers’ well-being

Abstract

The present study examined the associations of implicit and explicit power motives with the well-being of teachers. Teachers (N = 170) participated in an online assessment, which included measures for implicit motives (assessed by the operant motive test), explicit motives, and well-being. We expected congruently high power motives to be linked with the highest levels of well-being. We tested this assumption using polynomial regressions with response surface analysis. Results were consistent with our hypothesis. Additionally, there was an effect of directional motive incongruence (a combination of a low implicit and a high explicit power motive was associated with higher well-being than a high implicit/low explicit combination), which did not hold when controlling for emotional stability. Results for achievement were comparable, but weaker, and there was no effect for motive incongruence. No significant associations were found for motive (in)congruence in the affiliation domain. Our findings underline the importance of the power motive in understanding individual differences in teachers' well-being. The present study examined the associations of implicit and explicit power motives with the

Guiding others for their own good: Action orientation is associated with prosocial enactment of the implicit power motive

“…Finally, there was an indirect effect of action orientation through the prosocial enactment of the implicit power motive on the explicit power motive (Studies 1 and 2) and, in turn, on well-being (Study 2). The findings corroborate the importance of an implicit support of explicit power strivings (Gröpel 2008;Kazén and Kuhl 2011;Wagner et al 2015) and specify a prosocial enactment of the implicit power motive (cf. Aydinli et al 2014;Hofer et al 2008) as pivotal for explicit power strivings and well-being among students aspiring prosocial professions.…”

“…This is highly important because the power motive is especially relevant for people who work in power-related professions such as teachers, managers, politicians, and psychologists (Winter 1973). Consistent with this reasoning, among teachers and managers, congruently high power motives but not affiliation and achievement motives have been found to be associated with well-being (Gröpel 2008;Kazén and Kuhl 2011;Wagner et al 2015).…”

“…Second, to show that our findings are not restricted to the measure of leadership motive, we assessed the explicit power motive with an instrument more common in motivation research and motivational counseling (Kaschel and Kuhl 2004;Kuhl and Henseler 2004). Finally, empirical findings show that implicit support of explicit power strivings is conducive to well-being (Hofer et al 2008(Hofer et al , 2010Gröpel 2008;Kazén and Kuhl 2011;Wagner et al 2015) and the conceptualization of prosocial guidance perfectly matches the presumed job demands of teachers and psychologists (Hofer et al 2008;Kuhl and Scheffer 1999;McClelland 1975;Winter 1973). Therefore, we included a measure of well-being to test whether the indirect path from action orientation through prosocial guidance on the explicit power motive is associated with well-being.…”

The added value of implicit motives for management research Development and first validation of a Brief Implicit Association Test (BIAT) for the measurement of implicit motives

“…Then they offer spontaneous associations, in response to the following questions: (1) “What is important for the person in this situation and what is the person doing?”; (2) “How does the person feel?”; (3) “Why does the person feel this way?”; and (4) “How does the story end?” Next to motives imagery, the OMT scores also reflect motives-relevant traits (i.e., an implementation strategy of a motive), which should increase their predictive validity and test-retest reliability for motives measures. Recent studies on the validity of the OMT confirm its good psychometric qualities [ 11 , 44 – 47 ]. Yet, compared to the PSE, the administration of the OMT is indeed faster and renders shorter answers.…”

“…Although Organizational Behavior researchers have acknowledged that motives may also have an unconscious, implicit aspect [ 2 , 3 , 5 , 6 ], many if not most researchers in Management research only assess explicit motives while their implicit counterparts remain largely untapped. This implies a missed opportunity because an impressive body of research in Psychology and a slow but steadily growing stream of research in Management clearly show that these implicit motives influence many business, economic, political and societal phenomena independent and different from (or in interaction with) motivational dispositions that people attribute explicitly to themselves at a conscious level [ 7 – 11 ]. A plausible reason for this lack of Management research into implicit motives is that measurement instruments that are relatively easy to develop and/or administer were missing until recently.…”