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Undoubtedly, among the most popular and widely accepted conceptualizations of social power is the five-fold typology developed by French and Raven in 1959 ([62] Podsakoff and Schriesheim, 1985, p. 387).
In order for managers to be effective, they must be able to influence their subordinates, peers, superiors, stakeholders and many other individuals both affiliated and unaffiliated with their organizations ([25] Elias and MacDonald, 2006; [80] Vecchio, 2007; [83] Yukl, 1989; [84] Yukl and Falbe, 1990). This ability to influence is typically brought about, in large part, through the use of social power ([81] Wilensky, 1967). The importance of possessing an understanding of power in the workplace is well-documented in the historical ([18] Dubin, 1951) and contemporary ([27] Farmer and Aguinis, 2005) literatures, as well as texts marketed and readily available to laypeople ([46] Kouzes and Posner, 2002; [47] Lee, 1997). As evidenced by the above [62] Podsakoff and Schriesheim (1985) quotation, when those familiar with the literature think of social power, they typically think of the seminal five-fold typology developed by [31] French and Raven (1959).
Given the significance of French and Raven's work, as well as the reality that their original focus was on supervisor - subordinate relationships ([65], [66] Raven, 1993, 1999), it is no surprise that research dedicated to the study of social power continues to be popular among management scholars. In fact, [9] Bruins (1999) describes the state of affairs pertaining to social power research as quickly growing in force, size, and impact, while texts dedicated to the topic continue to be produced ([48] Lee-Chai and Bargh, 2001). However, what many fail to realize is that the original five-fold taxonomy was not meant to be the all-inclusive classification for the bases of power. As [31] French and Raven (1959, p. 150) originally proposed:
[...] there is no doubt that more empirical knowledge will be needed to make final decisions concerning the necessary differentiations, but this knowledge will be obtained only by research based on some preliminary theoretical distinctions.
Indeed, the original taxonomy has been differentiated and broadened over time ([63], [65] Raven, 1965, 1993) to the extent that there are currently 14 bases of power and a detailed power/interaction model. However, a review of the management literature dedicated to such topics...