Floortje Rink

To Have Control Over or to Be Free From Others? The Desire for Power Reflects a Need for Autonomy

The current research explores why people desire power and how that desire can be satisfied. We propose that a position of power can be subjectively experienced as conferring influence over others or as offering autonomy from the influence of others. Conversely, a low-power position can be experienced as lacking influence or lacking autonomy. Nine studies show that subjectively experiencing one’s power as autonomy predicts the desire for power, whereas the experience of influence over others does not. Furthermore, gaining autonomy quenches the desire for power, but gaining influence does not. The studies demonstrated the primacy of autonomy across both experimental and correlational designs, across measured mediation and manipulated mediator approaches, and across three different continents (Europe, United States, India). Together, these studies offer evidence that people desire power not to be a master over others, but to be master of their own domain, to control their own fate.

Understanding the Precariousness of the Glass Cliff: An Examination of Social Resources and Global Context

This chapter provides an overview of recent findings showing that stereotypical gendered beliefs about leadership underlie the glass cliff phenomenon. We summarise a series of studies demonstrating that the availability of social resources (i.e., social support from higher management and relevant stakeholders) during an organisational crisis impacts on the salience of these gendered leadership beliefs. In consequence, the availability of such resources contribute to the appointment of women into leadership positions, the precariousness of these positions, and the way men and women themselves evaluate the positions. Moreover, we review the literature on the appointment of women into precarious leadership positions across national cultures that differ in their endorsement of gendered leadership beliefs. This literature suggests that the glass cliff phenomenon is observed globally, yet is complex, subtle and multiple-determined.