The Power Paradox: Implicit and Explicit Power Motives, and the Importance Attached to Prosocial Organizational Goals in SMEs

Abstract

Abstract:We examine the fundamental tension between explicit and implicit power motives; and their combined impact on the importance attached to prosocial organizational goals in small businesses (SMEs). We show that key decision-makers with a dominant implicit power motive attach more importance to the prosocial goals of job creation and taking care of the environment in their businesses. However, we reveal that this positive relationship is moderated by their explicit power motive. Once decision-makers in SMEs consciously seek for power, the positive relationship is neutralized. With these results, we highlight the conceptual and methodological differences between implicit and explicit power motives. We could obtain these results because we developed and validated an innovative implicit motive measure-the Shortened Pictorial Attitude Implicit Association Test (SPA-IAT). Contrary to the currently available implicit motive measures, the SPA-IAT is fast and easy to use and analyze, which makes this novel instrument well suited for research in business settings.

Explicit and Implicit Basic Human Motives, and Public Service Motivation

“…Despite these modifications, the BIAT retains the favorable psychometric properties of the original IAT (Sriram and Greenwald, 2009;Bar-Anan and Nosek, 2014;Nosek et al, 2014). Recently, and important for our research, Hermans et al (2017) and Slabbinck et al (2018) optimized the BIAT for the assessment of implicit motives.…”

“…Implicit motives differ fundamentally from explicit motives in that the former are acquired during early childhood on the basis of non-verbal, affective experiences, while the latter are cognitively more elaborated constructs that are acquired after the development of language, being influenced by explicit instructions originating in the social and cultural environment ( McClelland and Pilon, 1983 ; Kasser et al, 2002 ). Using Berlew’s push–pull metaphor, Kehr (2004) and Hermans et al (2017) suggest that implicit motives “push” individuals toward actions that they enjoy (“want-to” behavior), while explicit motives “pull” them toward actions that they feel obliged to do (“have-to” behaviors). Explicit and implicit motives are also triggered by different types of incentives, and they only affect behavior in the presence of the “right” type of incentive ( McClelland et al, 1989 ; Stanton et al, 2010 ).…”

“…Firstly, PSM is defined as a context-specific expression of prosocial behavior, grounded in the desire or the basic need to help others through public institutions ( Perry and Wise, 1990 ; Kim and Vandenabeele, 2010 ). Interestingly, extant Psychology work reports strong connections between basic human motives and prosocial behavior ( Hofer and Chasiotis, 2003 ; Hofer et al, 2007 ; Aydinli et al, 2014 , 2016 ; Hermans et al, 2017 ).…”

Micro-foundations of small business internationalization: introduction to the Special Section

“…Although the extant body of knowledge does recognize the importance of individual aspects such as the entrepreneur's proactiveness and risk or opportunity perceptions (e.g.,Acedo and Galán, 2011), deeper-level constructs such as the entrepreneur's motivational system are under-researched in relation to the intention to internationalize. This is unfortunate, in particular because studies such as those El Shoubaki et al (2019) andHermans et al (2017) reveal that to advance our understanding of company goals and growth, studies need to integrate insights on entrepreneurial motives. A sole focus on human capital dimensions is insufficient(El Shoubaki et al, 2019).…”

Co-Creative Action Research Experiments—A Careful Method for Causal Inference and Societal Impact

“…As with the Enterprise Scan, we advise the coaches to continuously consult the manual of the Entrepreneur Scan (which includes a discussion of the BIATs) to help her or him with the interpretation of the results. For instance, according to prior research, entrepreneurs with a dominant need for power tend to prefer more socially responsible and eco-sustainable strategies, but only if the entrepreneur does not consciously seek power (Hermans et al 2017). During the bi-monthly gatherings, the interpretation of scores (in isolation and/or interaction) and examples of cases are discussed among the coaches and academic team.…”