Serving the self from the seat of power: : goals and threats predict leaders' self-interested behavior

• Autores: Melissa J. Williams
• Localización: Journal of Management, ISSN-e 1557-1211, Vol. 40, Nº. 5, 2014, págs. 1365-1395
• Idioma: inglés
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• Resumen

  • Why do some leaders use their position to amass personal prestige and resources, and others to benefit the team, the organization, or society? This article synthesizes new, cross-disciplinary research showing that self-serving leader behavior is predictable based on the function and nature of power�an essential component of leadership. First, because power increases goal-oriented behavior, it amplifies the tendency of self-focused goals to yield self-interested behavior. Self-focused goals may arise from a variety of sources; evidence is reviewed for the role of traits (e.g., low agreeableness), values (e.g., self-enhancement), self-construal (e.g., independence), and motivation (e.g., personalized power motivation). Second, because power is generally desirable, leaders whose power is threatened (e.g., self-doubts, positional instability) will turn their focus to maintaining that power�even at others� expense. These ideas have important implications for research and for organizational efforts to develop leaders who will improve others� outcomes rather than merely benefit themselves.