Shuang Wu

Research

How Self-Control Affects Leader Emergence

Wu, S., Smallman, R. & Smith, P.K. (2024, January 25). Self-Control Signals and Affords Power. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. Advance online publication. https://dx.doi.org/10.1037/pspi0000457.[PDF]

Media Coverage: Newsweek, UC San Diego Today
Conference Presentation: AOM 2022, DIO 2022, SPSP 2023
Whom do we perceive as more powerful and prefer to give power to: Those who have self-control or those who lack it? Past theory and research provide divergent predictions. Low self-control can be seen as a form of disinhibition, and disinhibition has been associated with greater power. However, high self-control can be seen as a form of agency, which is associated with greater power. Across seven studies, we found that individuals who exhibited high self-control were seen as more powerful, and given more power, than individuals who exhibited low self-control. We also demonstrated an important implication of our findings for goal setting: People were perceived as more powerful and given more power when they had a modest goal but exceeded it than when they had an ambitious goal but failed to meet it, even though in both cases they performed the same action. A meta-analysis of our mediation results showed that people perceived individuals higher in self-control as more assertive and competent, which was associated with greater power perception and then with greater power conferral. Perceived competence also directly mediated the effect of self-control on power conferral. The current research addresses a theoretical debate in the power literature and contributes to a better understanding of how power is perceived and accrued.

Self-Disclosure in Unequal Power Dyads

Wu, S., Yin, Y., Smith, P.K., Oveis, C., & Ocampo, J. Power and self-disclosure [title redacted]. Revise-and-resubmit at Organization Science.

Conference Presentation: AOM 2024, IACM 2024, SPSP 2024, DIO 2023
Social connection plays a vital role in organizations. People often build social connection via self-disclosure, but we propose that the power asymmetries frequently present in organizations may impede this process. Our research addressed two questions: whether deep self-disclosure enhances social connection between individuals differing in power, and how much individuals differing in power engage in deep self-disclosure when they interact with one another. Across four studies with newly formed dyads and pre-existing unequal-power work relationships, we found that deep self-disclosure increased social connection in unequal-power relationships more than shallow self-disclosure regardless of who did the disclosing (Study 1), yet high- power individuals were less likely to engage in deep self-disclosure than low-power individuals (Studies 2-4) because they perceived less value in the relational rewards brought by self-disclosure (Study 4). Our research suggests that high-power individuals’ tendency towards shallow self-disclosure may hinder the development of social connections in unequal-power relationships.

A Status Signaling Account of Maximizing

Wu, S., & Luan, M. A status signaling account of maximizing [title redacted]. Revise-and-resubmit at Journal of Consumer Research.

Conference Presentation: APS2021
How individuals make decisions is often observed by others. Whereas previous literature and marketing practice have identified various ways in which status can be signaled through what decisions individuals make, the authors propose that consumers and content creators can also signal status through how they consume and introduce a novel status signal: a maximizing decision style (i.e. searching extensively to seek the best). Unlike past research demonstrating the various negative outcomes of maximizing, this research shows, across seven studies (six preregistered experiments and one field study on reviews of over 200,000 recipes), a positive social function of maximizing: it signals status and, consequently, boosts influence on the audience. The authors find that the effect is mediated by perception of agency. It goes beyond perception of product price, satisfaction, and warmth and is mitigated when stronger alternative signals of agency exist. This research reveals that content creators can signal higher social status by displaying a maximizing (versus non-maximizing) decision style and thus boost their influence on the audience (i.e., elicit more consumer engagement). This challenges the dysfunctional view of maximizing, enriches our understanding of status signaling, and has important practical implications for marketing communication.

How Positive Stereotypes Sustain Social Class Inequalities

Wu, S., & Belmi, P. The heroization and exploitation of first-generation college students [title redacted]. Working paper.

Conference Presentation: AOM 2024, 2025, IACM 2024
Understanding the role organizations play in creating and reproducing social class disparities is important. Much of the existing theories focus on prejudice and negative stereotypes about individuals from lower social class origins. We draw upon research on complementary stereotypes to offer a new perspective on social class disadvantage: the role of positive stereotypes. Specifically, we propose that first-generation college students are heroized and that this heroization relates to the exploitation of them. Through two lab experiments and one audit study in the field, we reveal that when college students disclose their first-generation status during job application, evaluators are more likely to see them as heroes. Evaluators perceive them as having more heroic qualities and perceive their lives as resembling a hero’s journey more. This heroization then leads evaluators to prefer them for unpaid internship positions. We do not find evidence that this effect is moderated by the applicant’s race. Complementing past research, this paper suggests that class disparities can emerge when evaluators view first-generation college students through an overly romanticized lens.

Lay Theories of Power-Morality Link

Wu, S., & Smith, P.K. Lay Theories about the Effect of Power on Morality and Their Organizational Implications [title redacted]. Working paper.

Conference Presentation: AOM 2023
How power affects morality is a topic of heated debate in lay discussions, the popular press, and organizational research. We propose that the different beliefs people hold about this relationship affect their reactions to power on intrapersonal, interpersonal, and organizational levels. We investigated lay theories about how power affects morality and found that two are commonly held: Power Corrupts and Power Reveals. We developed and validated a scale to measure belief in these two theories and differentiated them from related constructs, such as lay theories about strategies to attain power. The two subscales distinctly predicted individuals’ reactions to power, including their motivation to seek power, trust in the integrity of powerholders, and support for different policies that promote ethical leadership. This research offers a new perspective on why individuals vary in how they navigate power hierarchies at work: their different lay theories about power’s effects.

Hi, I'm Shuang Wu (pronounced Shwahng Woo). Welcome to my website!