How and Why Power Corrupts Men More Than Women

We have all heard the phrase “Power corrupts,” but how strong is the relationship between possessing power and becoming corrupted by it? Research suggests that it may be more powerful than many of us believe. In fact, very few people may be immune to the corrupting effect of power.

A recent series of studies by John Antonakis and colleagues published in The Leadership Quarterly experimentally manipulated the amount of power given to participant-leaders and then allowed them to make decisions about how to distribute monetary rewards to themselves and to followers. Initially, the vast majority of the leaders agreed that the money should be distributed fairly, and that the leader should not benefit more than the followers. However, when leaders were given greater power, and the opportunity to give a greater share of the money to themselves, more than 80% of the leaders became corrupted by the power and gave themselves a larger share.

These ingenious studies also tried to discover what was to blame for the corruption, so they measured the honesty, personality, and testosterone levels of the leaders. The only significant predictor of corruption was the level of testosterone in the leaders, and, as you might suspect, women, who have lower levels of testosterone, were more resistant to corruption than were the male leaders. [This is consistent with other research on the ethics of men and women.]

The results of this research are troubling in several ways. First, even the leaders who scored higher on a test of honesty were likely to be corrupted by power. Second, given that most powerful leaders are men, there is greater opportunity for corruption in governments, businesses, and elsewhere where male leaders greatly outnumber the female. Finally, coupled with other research on the ethics of leadership, which suggests that over time leaders may begin to believe that they are “above the law,” and that they are entitled to receive more and more (and that low power people deserve less), there is substantial evidence of the corrupting effect of power. [Read more about this here.]

Reference

Bendahan, S., Zehnder, C., Pralong, F.P., & Antonakis, J. (in press). Leader corruption depends on power and testosterone. The Leadership Quarterly.

Image: Courtesy of Jean Lipman-Blumen

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