UPWARD POWER TENDENCIES IN A HIERARCHY - POWER DISTANCE THEORY VERSUSBUREAUCRATIC RULE

Two contrasting notions concerning upward power tendencies within hier archically structured groups are investigated. Power Distance Theory a ssumes that people have a desire for power that results in a tendency to reduce the power distance towards a more powerful other, and this t endency is assumed to be stronger the smaller the power distance. The bureaucratic rule implies that a vacant position may only be taken ove r by someone from the level immediately below the vacant position. In Experiment 1, power distance from the top position of a hierarchy was manipulated by assigning 120 subjects to a higher or a lower position in a power hierarchy. Results showed that only the motivation derived from the bureaucratic rule (i.e. entitlement) mediated the relationshi p between power distance and upward tendencies. In Experiment 2, a mor e pertinent test of the two theoretical notions was performed by assig ning 139 subjects to one of three positions. The main results were con sistent with the bureaucratic rule: (1) subjects immediately below the top position showed a stronger upward tendency towards this position than subjects in the two lower positions, whereas no differences were found between subjects in these two lower positions; (2) again only en titlement mediated the relationship between power distance and upward tendencies.