Power and Influence in Organizations

Power and influence are key processes in organizations, and anyone wanting to learn how to lead or manage organizations effectively must first understand the dynamics associated with such processes. One interesting but not surprising fact about knowledge in this area is that scientific theory and empirical research are not new, having first appeared about 50 years ago. However, the rate of knowledge advancement in this domain has not been rapid, and there is still much to learn about organizational power and influence processes. Thus, this fifth volume in Research in Management is devoted to highlighting new theoretical and empirical perspectives that advance the frontiers of knowledge about power and influence in organizations. The chapters of this volume are all related to power and influence, albeit conceptualized somewhat differently and dealing with different substantive domains. However, that these chapters represent interesting and important contributions to knowledge concerning power and influence in organizations, and that each should spark future research that will further enhance the field.