Power and consumer behavior: How power shapes who and what consumers value

Derek D. Rucker (1) , Adam D. Galinsky (2) , David Dubois (3)

1 Kellogg School of Management
2 Kellogg School of Management
3 GREGH - Groupement de Recherche et d'Etudes en Gestion à HEC

The current paper reviews the concept of power and offers a new architecture for understanding how power guides and shapes consumer behavior. Specifically, we propose that having and lacking power respectively foster agentic and communal orientations that have a transformative impact on perception, cognition, and behavior. These orientations shape both who and what consumers value. New empirical evidence is presented that synthesizes these findings into a parsimonious account of how power alters consumer behavior as a function of both product attributes and recipients. Finally, we discuss future directions to motivate and guide the study of power by consumer psychologists.

Keywords: Power; Agentic orientation; Communal orientation; Value; Social hierarchy

Domains: Humanities and Social Sciences; Business administration

Derek D. Rucker, Adam D. Galinsky, David Dubois. Power and consumer behavior: How power shapes who and what consumers value. Journal of Consumer Psychology, 2012, 22 (3), pp.352-368. ⟨10.1016/j.jcps.2011.06.001⟩. ⟨hal-00724231⟩