Burak Oc, Melbourne Business School; Michael R. Bashshur, Singapore Management University; Celia Moore, ³Ô¹ÏºÚÁÏ Business School. Published in the Journal of Applied Psychology, 2019.
Problem
Research consistently shows that those who control resources keep more for themselves over time, particularly when no one challenges them. The question of whether a single person speaking to power, can change the behaviour of someone who holds power over them has rarely been tested.
Science
We ran three experiments using a multi-round allocation game in which one participant was given the role of a decision-maker with control over a shared resource. The other participants were subordinates who received feedback on how the resource had been divided. We manipulated whether one lone subordinate gave honest, challenging feedback or consistently positive feedback, while the rest of the group gave the opposite. We tested this with different types of group identity, using university affiliation in one study and political party affiliation in another, to see whether shared identity between the lone voice and the decision-maker changed the outcome.
Outcome
A single subordinate providing honest, challenging feedback was enough to make decision-makers regulate their behaviour and take less for themselves, even when everyone else in the group was providing positive feedback. Critically, lone subordinates who spoke up honestly were not punished for doing so, if they shared a group identity with the person in power. A lone subordinate who provided consistently positive feedback, by contrast, licensed the decision-maker to become increasingly self-interested over time.
Change
This research challenges the assumption that individual dissent is futile. One person, speaking honestly, can shift the behaviour of those in power. Organisations that want to reduce the risk of self-interested decision-making at the top should create conditions that make it easier for individuals to speak up, not just groups. Formal feedback mechanisms that prevent decision-makers from identifying who is challenging them are particularly important, since the research shows that shared identity amplifies the effect of a lone voice in both directions.