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This study tested a structural equations model of the five French and Raven bases of supervisory power (coercive, reward, legitimate, expert, and referent), styles of handling conflict with supervisor (problem solving and bargaining), and job performance. Employees (N = 1,116) completed questionnaires on power and conflict styles, and their job performance was evaluated by their respective supervisors (N = 398). The data were aggregated for the subordinates associated with a given manager (N = 398) to make sure that independent observation assumption is not violated. The LISREL 8 analysis of data indicates that legitimate power influenced referent power positively and coercive power negatively, and reward and legitimate powers positively influenced expert power, which in turn, positively influenced referent power. Referent power, in turn, positively influenced problem solving (i.e., using more integrating and less avoiding styles) and negatively influenced bargaining (i.e., using more dominating and less obliging styles) conflict‐management styles, and finally, problem solving style, but not bargaining style, positively influenced job performance.

The purpose of this research study is to determine the ways in which employees’ personal power-expert and referent power influences their knowledge sharing and hiding behaviour. There are hardly any studies that have investigated the effects of employee power and expectations regarding the consequences of divulging knowledge. In this study, the authors investigate whether expected gains and losses in employee personal power influence employees’ willingness to participate in knowledge transfer.

The authors adopted a two-wave survey design and collected critical data from 288 employees of knowledge-intensive industries identified through online techno-groups, such as Stack Exchange. In the first wave, out of the total, 192 knowledge workers attended the follow-up survey. The authors apply polynomial regression followed by surface response analysis to establish the effects of any discrepancy between the current levels of employees’ personal power and their expected levels if they divulge their unique critical knowledge.

The authors find out that employees having relatively strong personal power are more likely to share knowledge, and the expected losses in power are categorically associated with a reduced intention to share knowledge. The authors also observed an increased knowledge hiding with expected losses in power. Surprisingly, the authors find that these established negative outcomes are also specifically associated with the expected gains in personal power.

The most significant contribution of this study is to establish that power plays an important but complex role in determining the employees’ participation in knowledge transfer activities. The authors specifically conclude that the optimal scenario for knowledge sharing is one in which the employees’ contributions are fairly valued and their reputation is not expected to change because of knowledge sharing.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is one of the first comprehensive studies that link power to both sharing and hiding of knowledge. This study is also unique in terms of its investigation of the effects of any discrepancy between current levels of employees’ personal power and their expected levels if they share or hide their unique critical knowledge. Thus, this research study is a unique contribution in terms of what and why of an untouched area in the entire knowledge management literature with a special focus on knowledge sharing and hiding.

Based on the leadership, entrepreneurship, and issue selling literature, we hypothesized that entrepreneurs who are perceived to be successful can be differentiated from unsuccessful entrepreneurs based on their degree and type of social power. We conducted a field experiment including 305 Malaysian managers with considerable experience in working with entrepreneurs and in entrepreneurial environments. Entrepreneurs perceived to be successful were ascribed greater referent, information, expert, connection, and reward power; less coercive power; and similar legitimate power than unsuccessful entrepreneurs. These results provide evidence in support of social power as a distinguishing individual characteristic of successful entrepreneurs and make a contribution to theories linking social capital with entrepreneurial success. Aspiring entrepreneurs need to be aware that their social power profile is associated with various degrees of perceived success. Our paper points to the need to investigate variables beyond personality and that are more directly relevant to social and interpersonal interactions that may differentiate entrepreneurs perceived to be successful from those who are not.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the relationship between school administrators' power sources and teachers' organizational trust levels.

The sample of the study, which employed a survey research method, consisted of 376 primary school teachers in Kutahya, a city in western Turkey. The data gathering instrument of the study incorporated “School Administrators' Organizational Power Sources Scale” and “Organizational Trust Scale”. Descriptive statistics and regression analysis were used to analyze the data.

According to the research findings, the participant teachers' organizational trust levels were high. When power sources used by school administrators were considered, they positively correlated with the teachers' organizational trust perceptions at a moderate level. However, only referent power was the significant predictor of organizational trust perceptions, while referent power, expert power and reward power were significant predictors of trust in administrator. Although the other power sources were highly preferred, they did not have an influence on employees' organizational trust perceptions. Power sources used by administrators explained approximately two‐fifths of total organizational trust perceptions of the teachers and three‐fifths of trust in administrator perceptions.

The research was limited to state primary school teachers' perceptions.

The research findings could be used to analyze primary school teachers' organizational trust environment. To increase the organizational trust levels of the staff, school administrators can prefer the power of expertise, charisma and awards. In this respect, conducting studies especially to develop the expertise of the administrators can contribute to the development of the trust perceptions of the staff.

Although there are studies on organizational trust, research connected to the relationship between power sources preferred by administrators and organizational trust has not been found. Furthermore, organizational power at schools is one of the disregarded fields of education.

This study aims to examine the relationships between power, relationship commitment and customer integration by replicating and extending Zhao et al. (2008) in China and the USA.

This study collects data from 210 manufacturers in China and 202 manufacturers in the USA. In this study, structural equation modelling is used to analyse the data.

This study finds that normative relationship commitment is positively associated with customer integration and expert and referent power are positively associated with normative relationship commitment in China and the USA. Reward and coercive power are positively associated with instrumental relationship commitment in China, whereas referent power is negatively associated. Referent, legal legitimate and reward power are positively associated with instrumental relationship commitment in the USA, whereas expert and legitimate power are negatively associated.

This study provides empirical evidence on the distinct impacts of different bases of mediated and non-mediated power in China and the USA, contributing to the development of the power-relationship commitment theory. The findings also provide insights into where and when the theory applies. The results can provide guidelines for managers to adjust the use of power to improve relationship commitment and customer integration in China and the USA.

The success of social commerce depends on consumers' willingness to participate in social commerce activities. Practitioners have attached increasing attention to facilitating social commerce intention with influencer strategies. However, theoretical understanding or empirical investigation on the impact of digital influencers on consumers' social commerce intention is limited. This study aims to provide new insights into the drivers of two forms of social commerce intention: social shopping and social sharing intention. Based on the theoretical lens of social power, this study answers how digital influencers affect consumer satisfaction and ultimately boost their intention to conduct social commerce activities.

A field interview is conducted to determine the appropriate social power forms. An online survey on a large social commerce site in China with 310 respondents is conducted to test the proposed model.

Results indicate that expert power and referent power derived from digital influencers predict most of the consumers' economic satisfaction, whereas referent power and reciprocity power explain consumers' social satisfaction. Economic satisfaction affects social shopping and social sharing intention, whereas social satisfaction only influences social sharing intention.

This study sheds new light on the theoretical understanding of the effect of digital influencers through a lens of social power. It provides new insight into the determinants of social commerce intention. It also compensates for the neglect of social satisfaction in the social commerce context.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of five dimensions of power (coercive, expert, legitimate, referent, and reward) on employees’ affective commitment in the sport organizations using social exchange theory.

Data were collected using a questionnaire including managerial power and affective commitment measures. A sample of 318 employees from a number of sport organizations operating in the Iran was used. Structural equation modeling was used to test the relationship between managerial power and affective commitment.

There are two major findings in this research. First, the relationships among expert power, legitimate power, reward power, referent power, and affective commitment are positive and significant. Second, the construct of coercive power was not associated with employees’ affective commitment. The findings suggest that managerial power relates with a social exchange relationship where employees exchange positive outcomes including strong affective commitment. When people perceive manager power, they feel more affectively attached to their organizations.

Sampling was one of the limitations identified in this study. The fact that convenience sampling was used meant that results were not immediately transferable to the general working population. In addition, the sample subjects in this study were mostly employees who worked in the sport sector of Iran. Future research could look into extending the study population to include collect input from other types of organization. If samples were drawn from a wider range of demographics, then the results become more meaningful.

Power generally refers to the ability, capacity or potential to get others do something, to command, to influence, to determine, or to control the behaviors, intentions, decisions, or actions of others in the pursuit of one’s own goals or interests despite resistance, as well as to induce changes. By utilizing expert power, reward power, legitimate power, and referent power, managers can promote affective organizational commitment and, thus, individual and organizational performance. It is likely that this occurs because people react reciprocally toward an organization that satisfies their needs, makes them feel that they are valued as human beings and that they deserve respectful treatment, and allows them to experience senses of purpose, self-determination, enjoyment, and belonging.

The fact that power can be used as an effective tool to coordinate and manage others appears to be largely ignored in the literature. The paper contributes by filling a gap in the organization and management literature, in which empirical studies on managerial power as an antecedent of affective organizational commitment have been scarce until now.

Social commerce platforms are prevalent in the explosion of social media and e-commerce, and they enable conversations across a broad range of topics. However, their success depends on consumers' willingness to invest their time, attention and money. Digital influencers have shown prominent effects on consumers in those social commerce platforms. This study, thus, aims to attempt to unravel the role of digital influencers in affecting consumer engagement and purchase behaviour in online social commerce communities.

A mixed approach with a field interview, an online survey and secondary archive data are presented to confirm all the hypotheses.

Several forms of social power from digital influencers (including expert power, informational power, referent power and legitimate reciprocity power) could influence consumer engagement behaviours (including content participation and content creation). Moreover, the two types of consumer engagement behaviours could further influence consumer purchase likelihood in the social commerce community.

Several forms of social power from digital influencers (including expert power, informational power, referent power and legitimate reciprocity power) could affect consumer engagement behaviours (including content participation and content creation). Moreover, the two types of consumer engagement behaviours could further affect consumer's purchase expenditure in the social commerce community.

This study draws on the theories of social power and social influence and integrates the literature on consumer engagement to explain how digital influencers affect consumer engagement and their purchase behaviour in an online social commerce community. Firstly, this work extends existing studies on the antecedents of consumer engagement in the social commerce communities by considering the role of digital influencers. Secondly, this research advances the theoretical understanding of the influence of digital influencers through a new lens of social power. The findings also contribute to community managers, users who pursue popularity and companies who target business goals.

The purpose of this paper is to improve understanding of how different kinds of power influence trust and motivation in hospitals.

To analyze the links between power, trust and motivation, a framework of social power is tested on measures of trust in managers and motivation. Quantitative data from 137 respondents were collected. Partial least square is used to evaluate the theoretical model.

Legitimate, referent and reward power has a positive influence on trust, while coercive power has a negative influence on trust. In total, 41.8 per cent of the variation in trust in managers was explained by power. Trust, reward power and expert power explained 30.9 per cent of the variation in motivation.

The research indicates that in knowledge organizations such as hospitals, leaders should be careful in using coercive power. Expert power seems to influence motivation but not trust, while legitimate power seems to influence trust directly and motivation only through trust. Referent power seems to have a weak influence on trust and no direct influence on motivation. Reward power has a very strong influence both on trust and motivation.

It is important for leaders to consider how power can influence trust, motivation and the performance of a health organization. Although this study was conducted in Norway and Finland, the findings may have relevance on a broader scale.

Building on encapsulated interest account and motivated cognition account, this study aims to investigate how channel members extend trust in a channel leader when the channel leader applies various non-coercive power sources (e.g. referent, expert, legitimate and reward power). Besides, the study explored the changes in channel members’ trust in a channel leader when each non-coercive power source is coupled with coercive power sources.

Using survey items from previously validated scales, the study collected responses from 237 channel members of 3 paint distribution channels in India. Data were analysed using structural equation modelling and multi-group moderation analysis techniques.

Findings indicated that expert and reward power sources enhance trust in channel leaders while affective commitment mediates the effects of all the non-coercive power sources on trust. Further, coercive power weakens the effects of expert power on trust.

The study is based on a cross-sectional survey and confines to the paint industry in India. Replicating this study in other countries and industries will better generalise the study’s findings.

The study recommends that channel managers use power sources to build trust in channel leaders. Consequently, they will be able to emphasise those specific power sources while developing channel management strategies.

The study contributes to a greater understanding of the power-trust relationship.