Poster #152 - How and when structural empowerment hinders resource sharing

• In Event: Saturday Poster Luncheon

Abstract

In recent decades, many organizations have been restructuring in ways that formally decentralize the necessary resources, information, and sociopolitical support, which is labeled “structural empowerment.” Although prior research suggests that structural empowerment enhances resource exchanges, we challenge this conventional wisdom by theorizing its potential drawbacks for resource sharing. Integrating the evolutionary perspective of work design and the prestige-dominance model, we developed a comprehensive model of how and when structural empowerment can hinder employees’ resource sharing via psychological entitlement. We employed multiwave (Study 1) and multisource (Studies 2 and 3) field surveys and experimental methodology (Study 4) to test our hypotheses. Our findings reveal that dominance-oriented individuals are more likely to feel entitled in response to structural empowerment. More telling, psychological entitlement decreases resource sharing.

Author

• Hun Whee Lee, The Ohio State University
  Presenting Author