The Psychology of Middle Power: Vertical Code-Switching, Role Conflict, and Behavioral Inhibition

Anicich, Eric M.; Hirsh, Jacob B.

doi:10.5465/amr.2016.0002

Cited by 92 publications

(103 citation statements)

References 161 publications

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“…Following recent work that emphasizes the need to better understand the organizational implications of experienced powerlessness (Anicich & Hirsh, ; Schaerer et al., ), we present a theoretical model that explores the ways in which experienced powerlessness influences how employees feel toward and behave in their social environments. Building on Social Distance Theory (Magee & Smith, ), our model elucidates how experienced powerlessness causes employees to feel reduced social closeness at work, and the downstream consequences of this reduced social closeness for employees’ disengagement behaviors both at work and at home.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…To examine the effects of experienced powerlessness relative to a baseline state in a conservative way, we employed a combination of two separate control conditions recommended by Schaerer and colleagues (). In the first control condition (moderate‐power condition), participants were told that based on their score on the leadership questionnaire they would be assigned to the role of “Middle Manager” (Anicich & Hirsh, ; Duguid & Goncalo, ). Participants learned that in their role as middle manager, they had to follow the instructions of their supervisor but that they would also be in charge of evaluating their own subordinates.…”

Section: Studymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Power has been referred to as “an omnipresent force in organizations” (Sturm & Antonakis, , p. 137), and its pervasive effects have led to an ever‐growing body of work that elucidates its impact on employees (e.g., Galinsky, Rucker, & Magee, ; Sturm & Antonakis, ). Although this work has provided an increased understanding of power dynamics in the workplace, scholars have recently lamented that an important limitation of existing work is the overwhelming focus on “powerfulness”—that is, employees experiencing high psychological power—which may have come at the expense of a thorough understanding of “powerlessness”—that is, employees experiencing low psychological power (Anicich & Hirsh, ; Schaerer, du Plessis, Yap, & Thau, ). To this point, a recent review of the power literature found that only 0.8% of the reviewed studies focused on powerlessness explicitly (Schaerer et al., ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In addition, because studies testing these theories tend to focus on powerfulness in the way predictions are made and inferences are drawn from data (Schaerer et al., ), our understanding of powerlessness is often only “inferred” from what we know about powerfulness. However, emerging work suggests that the effects of hierarchical differences do not always follow a linear pattern from high to low positions in a social hierarchy (Anicich & Hirsh, ; Duguid & Goncalo, ; Phillips & Zuckerman, ; Schaerer et al., ; Schaerer, Swaab, & Galinsky, ). These findings demonstrate that a thorough understanding of the dynamics of power in organizational settings requires studying powerlessness as a focal phenomenon, as simply inferring the effects of powerlessness from what is known about powerfulness is likely to result in premature conclusions about powerlessness.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

It's lonely at the bottom (too): The effects of experienced powerlessness on social closeness and disengagement

Foulk

Pater

Schaerer

et al. 2019

Personnel Psychology

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Although "powerlessness" is a pervasive experience for employees, prior social power research has predominantly focused on consequences of "powerfulness." This has led to contradictory predictions for how experienced powerlessness influences employees' social perceptions and behaviors. To resolve this theoretical tension, we build on Social Distance Theory (Magee & Smith) to develop a theoretical model suggesting that experienced powerlessness reduces social closeness and subsequently causes social disengagement behaviors both at work (reduced helping and increased interaction avoidance) and at home (increased withdrawal). Our model also elucidates the processes that cause powerlessness to reduce social closeness, demonstrating that employees' affiliation motive and their expectation of others' interest in affiliating explain this relationship. We further propose that the effect of powerlessness on social closeness will be stronger for employees high (vs. low) in political skill because these employees are more attuned to workplace power dynamics. We find support for our model in an experiencesampling field experiment and two experimental scenario studies.Our research clarifies the effects of powerlessness on social closeness and organizationally relevant downstream consequences, qualifies dominant assumptions that the powerless always behave in ways opposite those of the powerful, and demonstrates the importance of political skill as a moderator of power's effects. K E Y W O R D Sdisengagement, political skill, powerlessness, social distance Personnel Psychology. 2020;73:363-394.wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/peps

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Studymentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

It's lonely at the bottom (too): The effects of experienced powerlessness on social closeness and disengagement

Foulk

Pater

Schaerer

et al. 2019

Personnel Psychology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…Code-switching. Code-switching can be understood as the shifting between language, dialect, and sentence structures (Goffman, 1981) and behaviors in different, isolated situations (Anicich & Hirsh, 2017). Participants were asked if they codeswitched in different spaces, and the majority of them said yes.…”

Section: Identitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Denkyem (Crocodile): identity developement and negotiation among Ghanain-American millennials.

Marie¹

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Coffee at Hikes Point, and the PAS department, you all have played a unique role that have influenced my personal and professional life in a positive way. Thank you.To my haters, thank you for reminding me that those who are the biggest threat are often the target of people like yourselves. I hope you sleep well at night knowing that all of the energy you put in being jealous got you nowhere. I will remind you that you did not break me and that you can refer to me as DR. JAKIA MARIE. iv ABSTRACT DENKYEM: IDENTITY DEVELOPMENT AND NEGOTIATION AMONG GHANAIAN-AMERICAN MILLENNIALS Jakia Marie November 1, 2019Ghanaian immigrants and second-generation Ghanaian-American Millennials are largely ignored in scholarship. Using qualitative methods, this study explored the experiences of Ghanaian-American Millennials who are first, 1.5, and second-generations with the purpose of understanding how they create, negotiate, and re-create identities. Twenty-one individuals were interviewed using a phenomenological approach. The main findings suggest that even though the sample populations were of different immigrant generations, they have some similar experiences, which demonstrates the value in exploring age instead of solely immigrant generation. The findings also suggest that there are a number of complex layers that are involved in identity development and negotiation that become compounded when one is an immigrant or second-generation American. The study closes with suggestions for future research and implications for practice for scholars, policy makers, and community members.

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Exploring the socio‐political dynamics of front‐line managers’ HR involvement: A qualitative approach

Kurdi-Nakra

Pak

2022

Human Resource Management

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Moving beyond the extant HR implementation research that has often viewed the implementation decisions primarily as front-line managers' (FLMs) prerogative, this article explores interactive processes involving three key actors: HR managers, senior managers, and FLMs. Drawing on a political lens, the authors find that the way in which FLMs enact HR practices depends on the relative power of the enforcing actors (i.e., HR managers) and the endorsing actors (i.e., senior managers). The study findings reveal that while the enforcers employ a range of influence tactics (e.g., legitimization, pressure, rational persuasion, and consultation) to facilitate strict HR enactment, the endorsers use counter-influence tactics (e.g., legitimization, assertiveness, and inspirational appeal) in support of deviant HR implementation behaviors. Carefully navigating both sides' influence tactics in light of past involvement experiences, FLMs choose subsequent implementation behaviors accordingly. The research has devoted relatively little attention to relational dynamics

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The Psychology of Middle Power: Vertical Code-Switching, Role Conflict, and Behavioral Inhibition

Cited by 92 publications

References 161 publications

It's lonely at the bottom (too): The effects of experienced powerlessness on social closeness and disengagement

It's lonely at the bottom (too): The effects of experienced powerlessness on social closeness and disengagement

Denkyem (Crocodile): identity developement and negotiation among Ghanain-American millennials.

Exploring the socio‐political dynamics of front‐line managers’ HR involvement: A qualitative approach

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