High in the hierarchy: How vertical location and judgments of leaders’ power are interrelated

Abstract

Leadership implies power. We argue, from a social embodiment perspective, that thinking about power involves mental simulation of vertical location. Three studies tested whether judgments of leaders’ power and information on a vertical location are interrelated. In Studies 1a–1c, participants judged a leader’s power after being presented with, among other information, an organization chart containing either a long or a short vertical line. A longer vertical line increased judged power. Study 2 showed that this effect persists when longer (vs. shorter) vertical lines are presented in an independent priming task and not in an organization chart, and that horizontal lines do not have the same effect. Finally, Studies 3a and 3b showed the reverse causal effect: information about a leader’s power influenced participants’ vertical positioning of a leader’s box in an organization chart and of a leader picture into a team picture. Implications for leadership communication are discussed.