The impact of social power bases on perceived trust: Do Turkish managers still follow the Akhi order?

Abstract

Leadership and power are closely linked issues as leaders rely on certain power bases in order to create managerial influence on subordinates to achieve optimum results. In this study, the concept of managerial power was based on French and Raven’s categorization of power bases - reward, expert, referent, legitimate, coercive. One purpose of this study is to explore the power bases used by Turkish managers to influence their employees. Another purpose of this paper is to find out the impact of the power bases on perceived supervisory trust. The paper also discusses whether Turkish managers still act in accordance with an old tradition – akhism. The research questions were examined among a sample of 324 white-collar employees from different companies in the private sector. The results indicate that the power base mostly used by managers is legitimate power; expert power, referent power, coercive power and reward power follow. While personal power (a combination of expert power and referent power) and reward power have positive correlations with supervisory trust, coercive power is negatively correlated with trust in supervisor. Further analyses show that personal power has a positive and coercive power a negative impact on supervisory trust. Finally, the mediating role of personal power bases between position power bases and trust was investigated. Based on the findings, we may conclude that Turkish managers still act in accordance with the principles of Akhism. They resort to legitimate power because they are the masters, which is acceptable by the subordinates considering the high power distance in the Turkish culture. More importantly, they use expert power and referent power to influence their “apprentices”. Though past research has addressed relationships between power bases and several work outcomes, the present study contributes to the literature by investigating the two critical elements of superior-subordinate dyadic relationship - power and trust - in a different cultural context. The paper includes implications for which power bases supervisors should develop. As managers’ referent power and expert power have significant influences on creating a climate of trust, organizations may provide managers with both formal and informal training that develop skills-based power reflecting qualities associated with expert and referent power.