UCL School of Management, University College London.
WHU-Otto Beisheim School of Management.
J Appl Psychol. 2018 Aug;103(8):929-938. doi: 10.1037/apl0000299. Epub 2018 Apr 16.
Research suggests positions of brokerage in organizational networks provide many benefits, but studies tend to assume everyone is equally able to perceive and willing to act on brokerage opportunities. Here we challenge these assumptions in a direct investigation of whether people can perceive brokerage opportunities and are willing to broker. We propose that the psychological experience of power diminishes individuals' ability to perceive opportunities to broker between people who are not directly connected in their networks, yet enhances their willingness to broker. In Study 1, we find that employees in a marketing and media agency who had a high sense of power were likely to see fewer brokerage opportunities in their advice networks. In Study 2, we provide causal evidence for this claim in an experiment where the psychological experience of power is manipulated. Those who felt powerful, relative to those who felt little power, tended to see fewer brokerage opportunities than actually existed, yet were more willing to broker, irrespective of whether there was a brokerage opportunity present. Collectively, these findings present a paradox of agency: Individuals who experience power are likely to underperceive the very brokerage opportunities for which their sense of agency is suited. (PsycINFO Database Record
研究表明，在组织网络中处于中介地位会带来诸多好处，但相关研究往往假设每个人都有同样的能力去察觉并愿意利用这些机会。在这里，我们直接检验了人们是否能够察觉中介机会并愿意充当中间人，从而对这些假设提出质疑。我们提出，权力的心理体验会降低个体察觉网络中未直接连接的人之间的中介机会的能力，但会增强他们充当中间人的意愿。在研究 1 中，我们发现，一家营销和媒体机构中权力感较强的员工在其咨询网络中可能会较少看到中介机会。在研究 2 中，我们通过一项实验提供了对此主张的因果证据，该实验中操纵了心理权力感。与权力感较弱的人相比，那些感觉有权力的人往往会看到比实际存在的更少的中介机会，但更愿意充当中间人，而不管是否存在中介机会。总的来说，这些发现呈现了一种代理悖论：体验到权力的个体可能会低估那些最适合他们代理感的中介机会。
