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The Dynamics Of Prosocial Leadership: Power And Influence In Collective Action Groups, Ashley Harrell

Theses and Dissertations

This project bridges insights from theories of collective action, power, and influence to address the conditions under which group leaders solve collective action problems. Specifically, I show how group leaders’ behaviors impact the success of collective action groups as a whole via both power and influence processes. The results of a laboratory experiment support the prediction that other-regarding (prosocial) leaders increase their contributions to the group after ascending to leadership, while selfregarding (proself) leaders reduce their contributions. Further, I show that rank and file group members are influenced by their leaders’ contribution behaviors; as a result, prosocial-led groups as a …