Status As A Promising Opportunity Or As A Potential Threat?
a Motivational Approach To Understanding Dyadic Status In Teams
Open Access
Author:
Min, Sung Won
Graduate Program:
Business Administration
Degree:
Doctor of Philosophy
Document Type:
Dissertation
Date of Defense:
May 26, 2015
Committee Members:
Stephen Erik Humphrey, Dissertation Advisor/Co-Advisor Stephen Erik Humphrey, Committee Chair/Co-Chair Lance Ferris, Committee Member Aparna Anand Joshi, Committee Member Susan Mohammed, Committee Member
Keywords:
status dyadic status self-verification goal-orientation regulatory focus teams
Abstract:
In this dissertation, I introduce an alternate view on status, deviating from the dominant assumption that all people pursue status. First, I build a conceptual framework that describes differences in team members’ perceptions about their relative status in dyadic relationships. Specifically, I address three different motivational theories under the approach-avoidance framework: regulatory focus theory (Higgins, 1997), goal orientation theory (Dweck & Legett, 1988), and self-verification theory (Swann, 1983). These theories are applied to distinguish situations in which members perceive their higher status as an opportunity or threat and their lower status as an opportunity or threat. I also propose possible behavioral and team outcomes that follow members’ perceptions about their dyadic status. Then, I conduct an empirical study to test a part of my conceptual framework. As expected, low self-esteem, higher status members demonstrate fewer helping behaviors and lower quality relationships with their dyadic partners than high self-esteem, higher status members. Furthermore, learning goal orientation amplifies the negative influence of higher status in dyads: Members showed the lowest levels of helping and information-sharing behaviors when they were higher status, low on self-esteem, and high on learning goal orientation. These findings support the new approach that this dissertation takes to status suggesting that not all people desire higher status.
