Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2022 Mar 10:13:778726.
doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.778726. eCollection 2022.

Differences in Power Acquisition Between Only and Non-only Children: The Effects of Cooperative Orientation, Competitive Orientation, and Dependency on Parents

Yan Rong  1 , Yulan Han  1 , Linping Dong  2 , Huijuan Bi  3
Affiliations

Differences in Power Acquisition Between Only and Non-only Children: The Effects of Cooperative Orientation, Competitive Orientation, and Dependency on Parents

Yan Rong et al. Front Psychol. .

Abstract

Drawing upon a developmental perspective, we investigated the differences in power acquisition (i.e., rank at work and leader role occupancy in university) between only and non-only children as well as the mediating role of cooperative and competitive orientations and the moderating role of dependency on parents. To test our hypotheses, we conducted two field studies in 155 part-time Master of Business Administration (MBA) students (Study 1) and 375 senior students (Study 2). Results showed that: (1) non-only children were more likely to achieve higher rank at work than only children; (2) only children were less likely than non-only children to acquire power in organizations because they scored lower in cooperative orientation; however, the mediating effect of competitive orientation was not significant; (3) the difference in cooperative orientation between only and non-only children was smaller when dependency on parents was high, whereas it became larger when dependency on parents was low. Our research contributes to the understanding of how family structure influences individual power acquisition.

Keywords: competitive orientation; cooperative orientation; dependency on parents; only child; power.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

HB was employed by Shanghai Bihe Biochemical Technology Co., Ltd. The remaining authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
Theoretical model.
FIGURE 2
FIGURE 2
Moderating effect of only child status.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Anderson C., Brion S. (2014). Perspectives on power in organizations. Annu. Rev. Organ. Psychol. Organ. Behav. 1 67–97.
    1. Anderson C., John O. P., Keltner D., Kring A. M. (2001). Who attains social status? Effects of personality and physical attractiveness in social groups. J. Pers. Soc. Psychol. 81 116–132. 10.1037//0022-3514.81.1.116 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Anderson C., Spataro S. E., Flynn F. J. (2008). Personality and organizational culture as determinants of influence. J. Appl. Psychol. 93 702–710. 10.1037/0021-9010.93.3.702 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Andeweg R. B., Berg S. B. V. D. (2003). Linking birth order to political leadership: the impact of parents or sibling interaction? Polit. Psychol. 24 605–623.
    1. Aureli F., de Waal F. (2000). Natural Conflict Resolution. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.

LinkOut - more resources