How to Contain the Corruptive Force of Subordinate Managers’ Use of Power

Past literature posits that to contain power corruption, powerholders’ internal regulatory forces play a key role. This research breaks away from this predominant perspective by identifying a new external regulatory force in regulating subordinate managers’ use of power: higher-up managers’ displayed integrity. Drawing on the focus theory of social norms and the egocentric perspective on power, we theorize that higher-up managers’ displayed integrity functions as norm activators and determines whether subordinate managers translate their experience of power into self-serving leadership behaviors through psychological entitlement. We tested our theoretical model using a multi-wave, multisource field study based on a sample of 366 subordinate managers and 1,205 followers and examined our key theoretical reasoning using a preregistered experiment. Results reveal the positive effect of subordinate managers’ psychological power on psychological entitlement was weakened (vs. strengthened) when higher-up managers’ displayed integrity was higher (vs. lower), reducing (vs. enhancing) their subsequent self-serving behavior. Our experimental results corroborated that higher-up managers’ displayed integrity can activate the moral awareness of subordinate managers who experience high power. Our findings shed new light on how organizations can adopt effective external monitoring forces to contain powerholding managers’ power abuse.