A new survey in the Journal of Consumer Research released on October 18 has found that those in a position of power spend less on others than those who are "powerless."
The study, conducted by researchers in America, manipulated participants' sense of power: those involved in the research were assigned the role of "boss" or "employee" and then instructed to carry out a power-related task. After completing the task, participants were then asked to bid on a T-shirt and a mug, firstly to buy for themselves and then to purchase the item for others.
The experiment found that when participants were bidding for themselves those who had completed the task in a high power role - the "bosses" - bid almost double the amount when compared to the "employees" (on average, $12.08 compared to $6.49).
However when the participants were asked to bid on the same items with the intention of giving them to someone else, the opposite occurred: the "employees" bid an average of $10.81 while the "bosses" bid a mere $7.10.
The same results were observed across the entire series of experiments, showing that when purchasing for themselves those in a higher position of power were willing to spend more, but when buying for someone else, those in a less powerful position were more generous.
More information about the Journal of Consumer Research can be found at: http://jcr.wisc.edu/
Subscribe to Independent Premium to bookmark this article
Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Start your Independent Premium subscription today.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies