Jj. Bruins et Ham. Wilke, UPWARD POWER TENDENCIES IN A HIERARCHY - POWER DISTANCE THEORY VERSUSBUREAUCRATIC RULE, European journal of social psychology, 23(3), 1993, pp. 239-254
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.