FALLING FROM GREAT (AND NOT-SO-GREAT) HEIGHTS: HOW INITIAL STATUS POSITION INFLUENCES PERFORMANCE AFTER STATUS LOSS

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Marr, Jennifer Carson; Thau, Stefan
• 署名单位: University System of Georgia; Georgia Institute of Technology; INSEAD Business School
• 刊物名称: ACADEMY OF MANAGEMENT JOURNAL
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0001-4273
• DOI: 10.5465/amj.2011.0909
• 发表日期: 2014
• 页码: 223-248
• 关键词: SOCIAL IDENTITY THREAT; SELF-EVALUATION; SYSTEM-JUSTIFICATION; socioeconomic-status; work; pressure; determinants; INFORMATION; COMMITMENT; motivation

摘要

We investigate how initial status position influences the quality of task performance in the aftermath of status loss. We argue that despite the benefits of having status, high-status individuals experience more self-threat-challenges or contradictions to a central view of the self-and, consequently, have more difficulty performing well after status loss than do low-status individuals who experience a comparable loss of status. In a field study of professional baseball players (Study 1), we found that although low-status players' performance quality was unaffected by status loss, the quality of high-status players' performance declined significantly after losing status. In a high-involvement group experiment (Study 2), we found that high-status individuals who lost status were less proficient than both high-status individuals who did not lose status and low-status individuals who lost a comparable amount of status. However, supporting self-threat as the proposed psychological process, self-affirmation restored the quality of high-status individuals' performance (Study 3). We discuss the practical and theoretical implications of these findings.