The impact of explicit and implicit power motivation on educational choices

Abstract

The aim of three studies was to examine the differences between business majors and non-business majors, in their level of implicit (measured by an Implicit Association Test [IAT], Greenwald, McGhee, & Schwarz, 1998) and explicit power motivation (measured by Power Motivation and Helping Power Motivation scales, Frieze & Boneva, 2001).It was predicted that there are no differences between these two groups in the general (implicit) level of power motivation, but that differences exist in the way it is explicitly expressed: through desire for leadership and prominence vs. desire for helping. Results of Study 1 indicated that business majors (management, N=79) declared a higher leadership motive and a lower helping motive than non-business majors (history, psychology, linguistics, N=62).Study 2 addressed question whether the above differences in power motivation stem from socialization at the university level or from pre-selection. The relationship between high school students (N=134) academic major preferences and their power motivation was tested. It was found that the more they were business-oriented, the higher their scores were on leadership, and lower on helping scales. In Study 3, business majors (economics, N=75) and non-business majors (psychology, N=82) completed the same questionnaire as participants in previous studies, as well as performed the IAT. Non-business majors declared stronger explicit helping motive, while business majors expressed stronger prominence and leadership motives. Furthermore, for non-business majors, IAT results could be predicted by their helping score. Implications and possible limitations of the presented results are discussed.