| Nowadays,a great number of organizations have adopted a structure that is different from the traditional hierarchical organization in order to increase the efficiency of the organization’s operation in the face of competition and cooperation scenarios.In the traditional hierarchical organization structure,there are obvious power differences among members,while in the flat organization structure,the power among members is more equal.Therefore,it is an important management issue to rationalize the power structure among individuals within the organization,enhance the level of cooperation in the organization,and avoid individuals from using their power for personal gain in the process of competition within the organization.This study explores individual preferences for competitive and cooperative behaviors using inequality avoidance theory from two scenarios of individual interactions in organizations: competition and cooperation.It also expands the previous model of inequality avoidance,which only considers monetary gains between individuals,to include power inequality between individuals for the first time,reveals the role of power inequality avoidance as a driving factor influencing individuals’ behavioral preferences,and builds a relevant theoretical framework.From the perspective of power inequality avoidance among individuals,this study intends to analyze and address the influence of organizational power structure on individuals’ behavioral preferences under different scenarios,and construct different organizational structures,intra-organizational power acquisition methods and intra-organizational individuals’ resource allocation schemes through experimental economics to test the relevant hypotheses using experiments.The main components of this study include the following three areas.First,the effects of organizational structure and power acquisition mechanism on individual competitive behavior under competitive scenarios are investigated.By combining the honesty game,the dictator game and the ultimatum game,the following three points are verified:(1)the moral costs incurred by individuals in the power acquisition stage will significantly affect individuals’ preferences for altruistic behaviors;(2)an organizational structure with more balanced power among individuals will significantly reduce the self-interested behaviors of high-powered individuals,which is conducive to enhancing the collective organizational interests;(3)power inequality avoidance can drive individuals to reduce unethical behaviors in the competition(3)power inequality avoidance can drive individuals to reduce unethical behavior in the process of competition,which is conducive to the creation of healthy competition among individuals in the organization.Second,the influence of organizational structure and resource allocation scheme on individuals’ trust behavior under cooperative scenarios was investigated.By constructing a multi-individual trust game paradigm,different decision-making processes were simulated in the experiment to explore the differential effects of different organizational structures and resource allocation schemes for individuals based on resource and power effects.The results show that(1)individual power inequality brought about by organizational structure differences will significantly affect the trust behavior of individuals in the cooperation process;(2)power inequality avoidance based on influence among individuals has a stronger impact on the trustworthiness shown by individuals in the cooperation process;(3)by comparing multiple organizational structures,it is confirmed that the leadership-based vertical structure can significantly improve the cooperation efficiency and achieve mutually beneficial results.Finally,this study explored the effects of changes in power status of individuals in organizations under repeated competition or cooperation scenarios on individuals’ behavioral preferences and explored the mechanisms of power inequality avoidance on individuals’ behavioral preferences,and the results showed that(1)changes in power status significantly affect important factors of individuals’ behavioral preferences under continuous competition scenarios,and due to the drive of power inequality avoidance,individuals tend to use non-ethical means to maintain their high power status during the power(2)after a change in power identity during repeated competition or cooperation,individuals learn from their own or other individuals’ prior behaviors through a learning effect and adopt strategic behaviors in accordance with the purpose to increase shortor long-term gains,driven by inequality avoidance;(3)the continuity of individual power identity constructed by different organizational structures will affect repeated decision processes.The continuity of identity will affect individual behavior in repeated decision making process,and the more stable the power identity is,the more beneficial it is to solidify the long-term interests of individuals and organizations.In summary,this study investigates the effects of organizational structure and members’ identities on individuals under the conditions of power inequality avoidance in various contexts,and reveals how different organizational structures bring about differential access to power,the differences in power identities among members,and how the resources at the disposal of members through their power drive individual behavioral preferences and influence the learning effects of individuals in repeated behaviors.The study also extends the application of inequality avoidance in the scenario of organizational power inequality,enriches the research base on the influence of power identity on individual behavioral preferences in organizations,and provides important management insights in the direction of improving organizational management efficiency,increasing collective organizational benefits,enhancing organizational members’ willingness to cooperate,reducing losses caused by competition,and enhancing organizational value. |
