Power bases and attribution in three cultures

Area of Science:

• Social Psychology
• Cross-Cultural Psychology
• Organizational Behavior

Background:

• Previous research (Rodrigues & Lloyd, 1998) indicated U.S. and Brazilian samples perceived compliant behavior differently based on influence type.
• Reward, informational, and referent influences were seen as more controllable and internal than legitimate, expert, and coercive influences.
• These attributions affected affective and behavioral responses.

Purpose of the Study:

• To examine the cross-cultural generality of influence-compliance attribution findings in a Saudi context.
• To investigate how Saudi students perceive compliant behavior resulting from six bases of power (Raven, 1965) under different outcome conditions (good vs. bad).
• To explore cognitive and affective reactions to compliance in a distinct cultural setting.

Main Methods:

• Survey methodology employed with Saudi students.
• Measurement of cognitive and affective reactions to compliant behavior.
• Categorization of compliance based on six power bases (reward, informational, referent, legitimate, expert, coercive) and outcome valence (good/bad).

Main Results:

• Power bases significantly influenced perceptions of internality and controllability.
• Contrary to previous findings, coercive influence led to perceptions of greater internality and controllability when the outcome was negative.
• Informational influence uniquely resulted in perceptions of less internality and controllability, a novel finding.

Conclusions:

• Cultural characteristics of Saudi Arabia may moderate attributions of power and compliance.
• The study highlights cultural nuances in how individuals perceive and react to different influence tactics.
• Findings contribute to understanding cross-cultural differences in organizational and social psychology.