Abstract

It has been proposed that issues of power and influence should be incorporated in the dyadic study of leadership. Building upon social exchange theory which explains how power is gained and lost in the process of influence between an agent and the target (Blau, 1964; Emerson, 1962), this paper hypothesized that the power congruence of supervisors and subordinates was anchored on 9 types of influence tactics.  Three hundred and eighty-five pairs of Malaysian managers and executives working in manufacturing companies voluntarily participated in this study. The findings suggested that supervisors would use a combination of hard and soft tactics when their subordinates perceived them to have position or personal power. Implications of the findings, potential limitations of the study, and directions for future research were further discussed.

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