Group dominance in hierarchy-attenuating and hierarchy-enhancing organizations: The role of social dominance orientation, need for cognitive closure, and power tactics in a person–environment (mis)fit perspective.

Abstract

We examined, in different work organizations, how subordinates high in social dominance orientation (SDO; individual desire to sustain group-based hierarchies) and in need for cognitive closure (NFCC, an individual’s epistemic motivation to avoid uncertainty) comply with harsh power tactics as means to sustain asymmetrical intergroup relationships. We studied the interaction between SDO and NFCC in two organizations that differentially endorse hierarchy-attenuating and hierarchy-enhancing legitimizing myths. We compared the condition of person-environment (P-E) misfit in which subordinates high in SDO work for a hierarchy-attenuating organization and the condition of P-E fit where subordinates high in SDO work for a hierarchy-enhancing organization. We recruited participants from a hierarchy attenuating organization (N = 174) and another hierarchy-enhancing organization (N = 112). The study’s variables were measured through an anonymous self-report questionnaire. A three-way interaction analysis confirmed our hypothesis. The simple-slope analysis revealed that the association between the subordinates’ SDO and harsh power tactics only occurs in the hierarchy-attenuating (vs. hierarchy enhancing) organization at the conditional level of high (vs. low) NFCC. Since high-NFCC subordinates search for the attainment of cognitive closure, they attempt to solve the uncertainty of the P-E misfit trough the compliance with harsh power tactics, according to their desire to maintain stable intergroup hierarchies (e.g., high SDO).

How people higher on social dominance orientation deal with hierarchy-attenuating institutions: the person-environment (mis)fit perspective in the grammar of hierarchies

“…A fourth process that contributes to P-E fit is differential reward and punishment. For example, students whose SDO levels deviate from the norm of their hierarchyenhancing or hierarchy-attenuating major receive lower grades in their courses than do students whose SDO levels match those of their fellow majors (van Laar et al, 1999), and employees whose SDO levels do not match that of their work organization can be subjected to harsher punishment (e.g., Tesi, Aiello, Pratto et al, 2019b, Tesi et al, 2020. In line with these processes, a series of studies (e.g., Nicol & Rounding, 2014;Nicol et al, 2011) found that high SDO people tend to show a greater P-E fit when they work in a hierarchy-enhancing institution.…”

“…Despite students choosing careers, and institutions choosing and socializing people such that the SDO and ideologies of individuals are compatible with their institutional hierarchy-enhancing or hierarchy-attenuating missions (Pratto et al, 1997), it must sometimes be the case that individuals find themselves in settings and institutions that poorly match their own orientation (Seelman & Walls, 2010;Tesi et al, 2020), especially in the early phase of their career. This is a condition characterized by P-E misfit.…”

A behavioural study of obedience in health professional students

“…Different aspects of the professions may appeal to personality differences that exist between people who choose to enter a certain profession (Tesi et al, 2020 ) and subsequently influence behaviour in compliance situations. Some differences between ACP and RT students have been identified, such as RT students ranking higher on the moral foundations of Harm/Care, Fairness/Proportionality, and In Group Loyalty (Violato, 2020 ).…”

Political Gender Gap and Social Dominance Orientation

“…According to personenvironment fit theory, authors [27] posited that people select hierarchy-enhancing environments according to their SDO levels, as well as environments attract and socialize people according to how much in such places hierarchy-enhancing myths are supported. As a result, high-SDO people tend to fit better in hierarchy-enhancing environments and low-SDO people tend to fit better in hierarchy-attenuating environments (e.g., [18,27,52]). In the present chapter, we opted to study the gender invariance hypothesis in people belonging to political groups with a different support of hierarchy-enhancing legitimizing myths accordingly to the literature that outlines that the SDO level among participants (of both sex) of political groups mirrors the different extents to which parties support group dominance.…”