With Great Responsibility Comes Great Power: Effects of Construal of Power as Responsibility Versus Opportunity on Ethical Decision Making

Abstract

The construal of power determines its exercise. An experiment (n = 391) manipulated power construals and measured ethical decision making, as well as individual differences in relational self-construal as independent or interdependent. The independent variable was a prime in which participants were assigned to be directors of a simulated organization and were explicitly told that their role requires them to be either socially responsible or opportunistic with regard to organizational decisions they must make. The dependent variable was a novel scale of 12 items reflecting behaviors that are associated with ethical leadership. Participants had to indicate their preference for each item as an organizational priority. When they construed power as responsibility (versus opportunity), participants assigned to be directors of a simulated organization decreased their preference for opportunistic, bordering on exploitative, behaviors as organizational priorities. For individuals in the opportunism power-construal condition, interdependent self-construal caused them to select opportunistic behavior as an organizational priority, perhaps to benefit the ingroup. For individuals in both power-construal conditions, higher social desirability bias predicted greater preference for opportunistic organizational priorities. The implication is that while organizational leaders are frequently drawn toward opportunistic organizational priorities, priming social responsible expectations for their position reduces the unethical behaviors often associated with opportunism.