Personalized and socialized need for power: Distinct relations to employee traits and behaviors.

Benjamin Moon, Naomi Myung-Hee Lee, Joshua S Bourdage (2022)

Canadian Journal of Behavioural Sciences, 54(1), 28-39.

https://doi.org/10.1037/cbs0000279

ABSTRACT

The desire to influence others, also known as the need for Power (nPower), has been conceptualized in the literature as either Personalized (i.e., desire for power for one’s own ends) or Socialized (i.e., desire for power to help others). However, there is no valid scale to measure nPower, and it is unclear how Personalized and Socialized nPower relate to individual differences of employees and work-related behaviors. Therefore, the objectives of the present study were (a) to create and validate a new scale for Personalized and Socialized nPower and (b) to explore how scores on these scales relate to employee personality traits (HEXACO), Impression Management, work-related behaviors and motivations (i.e., Unethical Decision-Making, Counterproductive Workplace Behavior, Organizational Citizenship Behavior Motives), and promotional outcomes. The study used a community sample from StudyResponse (N = 206), and an undergraduate sample from the University of Calgary (N = 130), where participants completed a self-report questionnaire. The confirmatory factor analysis of the new scale best supported a two-factor structure that corresponded to the two components of nPower. Furthermore, Personalized and Socialized nPower were differentially associated with personality traits, work-related behaviors and motivations, and promotional outcomes measured in the study. The study provides researchers with psychometrically sound measures of Personalized and Socialized nPower, and the study also helps expand the understanding of these important constructs.