HANDING OVER THE FISHING ROD: HOW STRUCTURAL POWER SHAPES THE HELP TYPE EMPLOYEES PROVIDE TO PEERS

While power is often associated with self-serving tendencies, and the motivation to maintain one’s privileged position in particular, it can also shape how generously employees interact with peers and the type of help they provide them. This research examined how structural power influences the type of empowering help employees offer to their peers. We demonstrated that high (vs. low) organizational rank induced a greater preference for autonomy relative to dependency helping, an effect driven by a heightened sense of social responsibility. These effects persisted across observational, scenario-based and behavioral-experimental methodologies, providing robust evidence for the other-serving effect of power in lateral workplace relationships.