OB Research Seminar - Phebe Driebergen, HEC Lausanne

Social interactions are central to organizational processes. In these interactions, individuals adapt their nonverbal communication in response to social and contextual cues in a non-random way, a process known as behavioral adaptability (BA). Although these interactions occur in hierarchical settings, how power asymmetries influence adaptive communicative behavior remains insufficiently understood. This study investigates whether genuine power differences influence how individuals adapt their nonverbal communicative behavior in organizational contexts and whether BA leads to better interaction and organizational outcomes. Using an incentivized coordination game experiment, participants were randomly assigned to high-, equal-, or low-power conditions, where power was operationalized through control over reward allocation. BA was measured as articulation rate (AR) adaptation, assessing whether players adjusted their speech tempo to match their interaction partner’s AR. Consistent with previous findings, individuals with low-power showed more BA toward faster speakers. Furthermore, female participants in equal-power conditions were more likely to show BA than males, particularly when interacting with faster speakers. Showing BA marginally enhanced performance, yet did not result in better global perceptual or attitudinal ratings but did result in higher ratings on specific attributes (e.g., trustworthiness). This study expands our understanding of how power differences influence behavior during interactions and shows the selective benefits, as well as limitations, of showing BA in organizational settings.