When power makes others speechless: The negative impact of leader power on team performance

Leigh Plunkett Tost (), Francesca Gino () and Richard P. Larrick ()
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Leigh Plunkett Tost: University of Washington
Francesca Gino: Harvard Business School, Negotiation, Organizations & Markets Unit
Richard P. Larrick: Duke University

No 11-087, Harvard Business School Working Papers from Harvard Business School

Abstract: We examine the impact of subjective power on leadership behavior and demonstrate that the psychological effect of power on leaders spills over to impact team effectiveness. Specifically, drawing from the approach/inhibition theory of power, power-devaluation theory, and organizational research on the antecedents of employee voice, we argue that a leader's experience of heightened power produces verbal dominance, which reduces perceptions of leader openness and team open communication. Consequently, there is a negative effect of leader power on team performance. Three studies find consistent support for this argument. The implications for theory and practice are discussed.

Keywords: Power; Leadership; Teams; Communication; Talking; Dominance; Team Performance; Learning (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 48 pages
Date: 2011-02
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-hme, nep-mic and nep-ppm
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hbs:wpaper:11-087

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