How objectifiers are granted power in the workplace

Abstract

Objectification often has profound negative consequences for its victims, yet we argue that objectification may have positive ancillary implications for the perpetrators. Drawing from system justification theory, we posit that, especially in organizations characterized by higher power distance, objectifying supervisors would be afforded more power by their subordinates because they would deem such behaviour as more typical (i.e., descriptive justification) and more desirable (i.e., prescriptive justification). The results of two experiments (N = 443 and N = 211) showed that high (vs. low) power distance subordinates afforded less power to a non-objectifying supervisor (but not more power to an objectifying supervisor), and that prescriptive justification (but not descriptive justification) mediated the interaction effect of objectification and power distance on power affordance. In a field survey with dyads of supervisors and subordinates (N = 122), we found that subordinates with relatively high power distance orientations afforded power to their objectifying supervisors through prescriptive justification. Our research contributes to objectification literature by demonstrating when and how supervisor objectification can be rationalized and perpetuated through granting objectifiers power.