The Rich Get Richer (at Least When They Are Men): The Reciprocal Relationship Between Power and Status

Scholars and practitioners alike have long thought that power and status share a reciprocal, mutually reinforcing relationship. However, examination of this relationship has largely been left to theoretical accounts to date due to the proliferation of static research designs and a dearth of dynamic methodology palatable to organizational researchers. Moreover, the correlation between power and status varies considerably from one study to the next, indicating the possibility of moderators. Utilizing a sample of nascent project teams observed over four time points and leveraging a contemporary methodology from developmental psychology for modeling dynamic relationships, we illustrate that there is indeed a mutually reinforcing relationship between perceived power and status. Critically, however, we find that this relationship is contingent upon gender, such that it is present for men but not for women.