Tactics of Influence and Deinfluentization, Personality and the Personal Sense of Power Among Polish Managers

Mateusz Paliga; Anita Pollak; Barbara Kożusznik

doi:10.18290/rpsych20233-5

Mateusz Paliga Institute of Psychology, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Silesia https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8538-874X
Anita Pollak Institute of Psychology, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Silesia https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9921-6607
Barbara Kożusznik Institute of Psychology, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Silesia https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0574-8742

DOI: https://doi.org/10.18290/rpsych20233-5

Abstrakt

Power in organizations creates interpersonal settings and lays the ground for designating individual roles and positions of superiors and subordinates. In such a context, influence tactics are situation-specific behaviors used to change the behavior of others and achieve organizational goals. The notion that power and influence can be based on personal or positional variables was used to design the framework of the present studies intended to describe how trait- and state-like variables are related to influence tactics and deinfluentization. The subjects were 250 Polish managers. Study 1 (n = 250) was undertaken to collect data about the influence tactics of Polish managers to fill the void in information in the field of social psychology in organizations. In Study 2 (n = 104) we correlated influence tactics with the personal sense of power. The results proved that the perception of having the ability to exert power over others was positively related to rational persuasion, apprising, and pressure. In Study 3 (n = 69) we investigated the relationships of influence tactics and deinfluentization with the Big Five and directiveness. The results showed that Neuroticism was positively correlated with pressure, legitimating, and coalition, but negatively with rational persuasion and consultation. Extraversion was positively correlated with rational persuasion, so was Conscientiousness. Agreeableness was negatively related to coalition. Directiveness was in a positive relation with pressure but correlated negatively with personal appeals. Deinfluentization positively correlated with Agreeableness and negatively with directiveness.

Bibliografia

Adorno, T. W., Frenkel-Brunswick, E., Levinson, D. J., & Sanford, R. N. (1950). The authoritarian personality. Harper.

Anderson, C., John, O. P., & Keltner, D. (2012). The personal sense of power. Journal of personality, 80(2), 313–344.

Anderson, C., Spataro, S. E., & Flynn, F. J. (2008). Personality and organizational culture as determinants of influence. Journal of Applied Psychology, 93(3), 702–710.

Bandura, A. (1999). Social cognitive theory: An agentic perspective. Asian Journal of Social Psychology, 2(1), 21–41.

Barrick, M. R., & Mount, M. K. (1991). The big five personality dimensions and job performance: A meta-analysis. Personnel Psychology, 44(1), 1–26. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1744-6570.1991.tb00688.x

Bennett, J. B. (1988). Power and influence as distinct personality traits: Development and validation of a psychometric measure. Journal of Research in Personality, 22(3), 361–394. https://doi.org/10.1016/0092-6566(88)90036-0

Bono, J. E., & Judge, T. A. (2004). Personality and transformational and transactional leadership: A meta-analysis. Journal of Applied Psychology, 89(5), 901–910. https://doi.org/10.1037/0021-9010.89.5.901

Boughton, M. (2011). Power, influence tactics, and influence processes in virtual teams (Doctoral dissertation, University of North Carolina, Charlotte, NC). Retrieved March 13, 2020 from https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/79c7/a68d2f56426f8071d3046e16c0108e6cad7e.pdf

Brandstätter, H. (2011). Personality aspects of entrepreneurship: A look at five meta-analyses. Personality and Individual Differences, 51(3), 222–230. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2010.07.007

Brown, M. E., & Treviño, L. K. (2006). Ethical leadership: A review and future directions. The Leadership Quarterly, 17(6), 595–616. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.leaqua.2006.10.004

Brzozowski, P. (1997). Skala dyrektywności J. J. Raya [J. J. Ray’s Directiveness Scale]. Pracownia Testów Psychologicznych Polskiego Towarzystwa Psychologicznego.

Bugental, D. B., & Lewis, J. C. (1999). The paradoxical misuse of power by those who see themselves as powerless: How does it happen? Journal of Social Issues, 55(1), 51–64. https://doi.org/10.1111/0022-4537.00104

Cable, D. M., & Judge, T. A. (2003). Managers’ upward influence tactic strategies: The role of manager personality and supervisor leadership style. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 24(2), 197–214. https://doi.org/10.1002/job.183

Caldwell, D. F., & Burger, J. M. (1997). Personality and social influence strategies in the Workplace. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 23(10), 1003–1012. https://doi.org/10.1177/01461672972310001

Case, T., Dosier, L., Murkison, G., & Keys, B. (1988). How managers influence superiors: A study of upward influence tactics. Leadership & Organization Development Journal, 9(4), 25–31. doi:10.1108/eb053641

Celińska-Nieckarz, S., Nieckarz, Z., & Konieczny, T. K. (2012). An evaluation of the effectiveness of middle managers and their degree of directivity. In M. Lipowski & Z. Nieckarz (Eds.), Empirical aspects of the psychology of management/ Empiryczne oblicza psychologii zarządzania (pp. 98–131). Wyższa Szkoła Administracji i Biznesu im. Eugeniusza Kwiatkowskiego w Gdyni.

Chemers, M. M. (2000). Leadership research and theory: A functional integration. Group Dynamics: Theory, Research, and Practice, 4(1), 27–43. https://doi.org/10.1037/1089-2699.4.1.27

Cieciuch, J., & Łaguna, M. (2014). Wielka Piątka i nie tylko. Cechy osobowości i ich pomiar [The Big Five and beyond: Personality traits and their measurement]. Roczniki Psychologiczne, 17(2), 239–247.

Cislak, A., Cichocka, A., Wojcik, A. D., & Frankowska, N. (2018). Power corrupts, but control does not: What stands behind the effects of holding high positions. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 44(6), 944–957.

Costa, P. T., & McCrae, R. R. (1992). Normal personality assessment in clinical practice: The NEO Personality Inventory. Psychological Assessment, 4(1), 5–13.

Czerniawska, M. (2018). Directiveness and attitudes toward entrepreneurship. 10th International Scientific Conference “Business and Management 2018,” May 3–4, 2018, Vilnius, Lithuania.

de Raad, B. (1998). Five big, Big Five issues: Rationale, content, structure, status, and cross-cultural assessment. European Psychologist, 3, 113–124.

Doliński, D. (2011). Techniki wpływu społecznego [Social influence techniques]. Scholar.

Duckitt, J. H. (1983). Directiveness and authoritarianism: Some research findings and a critical reappraisal. South African Journal of Psychology, 13(1), 10–12.

Emans, B. J., Munduate, L., Klaver, E., & Van de Vliert, E. (2003). Constructive consequences of leaders’ forcing influence styles. Applied Psychology, 52(1), 36–54.

Faeth, M. A. (2004). Power, authority and influence: A comparative study of the behavioral influence tactics used by lay and ordained leaders in the episcopal church (Doctoral dissertation, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Falls Church, VA). Retrieved March 13, 2020 from https://vtechworks.lib.vt.edu/bitstream/handle/10919/27045/mabfaethdiss.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y

Falbe, C. M., & Yukl, G. (1992). Consequences for managers of using single influence tactics and combinations of tactics. Academy of Management Journal, 35(3), 638–652.

Ferris, G. R., Treadway, D. C., Kolodinsky, R. W., Hochwarter, W. A., Kacmar, C. J., Douglas, C., & Frink, D. D. (2005). Development and validation of the political skill inventory. Journal of Management, 31(1), 126–152.

French, J. R. P., Jr., & Raven, B. (1959). The bases of social power. In D. Cartwright (Ed.), Studies in social power (pp. 150–167). University of Michigan.

Gonçalves, M. (2013). Leadership styles: The power to influence others. International Journal of Business and Social Science, 4(4), 1–3.

Goodstadt, B. E., & Hjelle, L. A. (1973). Power to the powerless: locus of control and the use of power. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 27(2), 190–196.

Gorbaniuk, O., Korczak, A., Toruj, N., Czarnejko, A., Macheta, K., Jałoszewska, M., Charęzińska- Nowocień, M., Karpiński, R., Garwoliński, Ł., Misiuro, T., Zygnerska, M., Bojan, I., Rykowska, K., Wawrzaszek, P., Jeliński, J., & Hawryluk, M. (2019). Comprehensive psycholexical classification of Polish person-descriptive terms. Current Issues in Personality Psychology, 7(2), 142–154. https://doi.org/10.5114/cipp.2019.82792

Hryniewicz, J. T. (2007). Stosunki pracy w polskich organizacjach [Employment relationships in Polish organizations]. Scholar.

Jasiński, T., & Wilczyńska, D. (2015). Directiveness and self-esteem, and system of values in the students of physical education. International Journal of Health, Physical Education and Computer Science in Sports, 20(1), 90–95.

John, O. P., & Srivastava, S. (1999). The Big Five trait taxonomy: History, measurement, and theoretical perspectives. In O. P. John, R. W. Robins, & L. A. Pervin (Eds.), Handbook of personality: Theory and research (pp. 114–158). Guilford Press.

Judge, T. A., Bono, J. E., Ilies, R., & Gerhardt, M. W. (2002). Personality and leadership: a qualitative and quantitative review. Journal of Applied psychology, 87(4), 765–780, https://doi.org/10.1037//0021-9010.87.4.765

Judge, T. A., Heller, D., & Mount, M. K. (2002). Five-factor model of personality and job satisfaction: A meta-analysis. Journal of Applied Psychology, 87(3), 530–541.

Judge, T. A., Higgins, C. A., Thoresen, C. J., & Barrick, M. R. (1999). The big five personality traits, general mental ability, and career success across the life span. Personnel Psychology, 52(3), 621–652.

Judge, T. A., Klinger, R., Simon, L. S., & Yang, I. W. F. (2008). The contributions of personality to organizational behavior and psychology: Findings, criticisms, and future research directions. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 2(5), 1982–2000.

Kennedy, J. C., Fu, P. P., & Yukl, G. (2003). Influence tactics across twelve cultures. In W. H. Mobley, P. W. Dortan, Advances in global leadership (Vol. 3, pp. 127–147). Emerald Group Publishing. Retrieved October 16, 2019, from https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Jeffrey_Kennedy2/publication/235311531_INFLUENCE_TACTICS_ACROSS_TWELVE_CULTURES/links/5bf46d8d4585150b2bc4af23/INFLUENCE-TACTICS-ACROSS-TWELVE-CULTURES.pdf

Kipnis, D., Schmidt, S. M., & Wilkinson, I. (1980). Intraorganizational influence tactics: Explorations in getting one’s way. Journal of Applied Psychology, 65(4), 440–452.

Kocur, D. (2017). The need for power and influence, sense of power and directiveness among teachers. The New Educational Review, 48(2), 257–267. https://doi.org/10.15804/tner.2017.48.2.21

Kożusznik, B. (2005). Wpływ społeczny w organizacji [Social influence in an organization]. Polskie Wydawnictwo Ekonomiczne.

Kożusznik, B., Paliga, M., Smorczewska, B., Grabowski, D., & Kożusznik, M. W. (2018). Development and validation of the Team Influence Relations Scale (TIReS): Beyond the measurement of individual influence in teams. Baltic Journal of Management, 13(1), 84–103.

Kożusznik, B., Pollak, A., Adamek, D., & Grabowski, D. (2015). Development and validation of the Influence Regulation and Deinfluentization Scale (DEI-beh). Polish Journal of Applied Psychology, 13(4), 91–108.

Magee, J. C., & Galinsky, A. D. (2008). Social hierarchy: The self‐reinforcing nature of power and status. Academy of Management Annals, 2(1), 351–398. https://doi.org/10.5465/19416520802211628

Mączyński, J., Jago, A., Reber, G., & Böhnisch, W. (1993). Styl kierowania ludźmi polskich, austriackich i amerykańskich menedżerów. Przegląd Psychologiczny, 1, 65–80.

McClelland, D. C., & Boyatzis, R. E. (1982). Leadership motive pattern and long-term success in management. Journal of Applied Psychology, 67(6), 737–743.

Mowday, R. T. (1978). The exercise of upward influence in organizations. Administrative Science Quarterly, 137–156.

Paliga, M., & Pollak, A. (2016). Różnice pokoleniowe w sposobach wywierania wpływu społecznego u kadry kierowniczej. Społeczeństwo i Edukacja, 2(21), 149–165.

Overbeck, J. R., Neale, M. A., & Govan, C. L. (2010). I feel, therefore you act: Intrapersonal and interpersonal effects of emotion on negotiation as a function of social power. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 112(2), 126–139. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.obhdp.2010.02.004

Porter, L. W., Angle, H. L., & Allen, R. W. (2003). Influence, power, and politics in organizational settings. In L. W. Porter, H. L. Angle, & R. W. Allen (Eds.), Organizational influence processes (2nd ed., pp. 3–13). M. E. Sharpe.

Raven, B. H., & Kruglanski, A. W. (1970). Conflict and power. In P. Swingle (Ed.), The structure of conflict (pp. 69–109). Academic Press.

Ray, J. J. (1971). Ethnocentrism—attitudes and behaviour. Australian Quarterly, 43(2), 89–97.

Ray, J. J. (1976). Do authoritarians hold authoritarian attitudes? Human Relations, 29(4), 307–325.

Ray, J. J. (1981). Authoritarianism, dominance and assertiveness. Journal of Personality Assessment, 45(4), 390–397.

Santorski, J., & Michalik, E. (2016). Polska na kozetce [Poland on the couch]. Burda Publishing Polska.

Saucier, G., & Srivastava, S. (2015). What makes a good structural model of personality? Evaluating the Big Five and alternatives. In M. Mikulincer & P. R. Shaver (Eds.), APA handbook of personality and social psychology: Vol. 4. Personality Processes and Individual Differences (pp. 283–305). Cambridge University Press.

Singh, A. (2009). Organizational power in perspective. Leadership and Management in Engineering, 9(4), 165–176. https://doi.org/10.1061/(asce)lm.1943-5630.0000018

Spengler, M., Damian, R. I., & Roberts, B. W. (2018). How you behave in school predicts life success above and beyond family background, broad traits, and cognitive ability. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 114(4), 620–636.

Thibaut, J., & Kelley, H. H. (1959). The Social Psychology of Groups. Wiley.

Trinkle, B., & Lam, M. (2014). Construct validity of organizational appeal: A newly identified influence tactic to elicit professional accountants’ task commitment. Advances in Accounting Behavioral Research, 17, 183–211.

Turner, J. C. (2005). Explaining the nature of power: A three-process theory. European Journal of Social Psychology, 35(1), 1–22. https://doi.org/10.1002/ejsp.244

Turska-Kawa, A., & Wojtasik, W. (2017). “Directiveness” as a predictor of religious attitudes. Polish Sociological Review, 2(198), 189–201.

Yang, C., Liu, Y., & Chen, H. (2018). The influence of power sense on cooperation: The mediating effect of perceived control and the moderating effect of dominance motivation. Psychology, 9, 1065–1080.

Yukl, G. (2010). Leadership in organizations (7th ed.). Pearson.

Yukl, G., & Falbe, C. M. (1990). Influence tactics and objectives in upward, downward, and lateral influence attempts. Journal of Applied Psychology, 75, 132–140.

Yukl, G., & Seifert, C. (2002). Preliminary validation of an extended version of the Influence Behavior Questionnaire. Paper presented at the Society for Industrial-Organizational Psychology meetings, Toronto, Canada.

Yukl, G., & Tracey, J. B. (2003). Consequences of influence tactics used with subordinates, peers, and the boss. In L. W. Porter, H. L. Angle, & R. W. Allen (Eds.), Organizational influence processes (2nd ed., pp. 96–116). M. E. Sharpe.

Yukl, G., Chavez, C., & Seifert, C. F. (2005). Assessing the construct validity and utility of two new influence tactics. Journal of Organizational Behavior: The International Journal of Industrial, Occupational and Organizational Psychology and Behavior, 26(6), 705–725.

Zawadzki, B., Strelau, J., Szczepaniak, P., & Śliwińska, M. (1998). Inwentarz osobowości NEO-FFI Costy i McCrae. Adaptacja polska. Podręcznik [Personality Inventory NEO-FFI by Costa and McCrae: Polish adaptation: A manual]. Pracownia Testów Psychologicznych Polskiego Towarzystwa Psychologicznego.