The Influence of Social Power on Knowledge Utilization

Although many studies have reported that social power is a critical factor in facilitating or constraining social interactions among individuals, few studies have fully explored how social power influences an individual’s knowledge utilization within a work group. Social power in the workplace helps individuals recognize others’ knowledge and utilize it in a business context. By integrating the theory of social power with the volitional model, this study develops a theoretical model of how social power influences an individual’s positive affect, perceived transactive memory system (PTMS) levels, and knowledge utilization. The proposed model was tested using data from 320 individuals. The results show that social power significantly influences an individual’s affect and PTMS which in turn jointly influence their intention to utilize knowledge. Notably, this study reveals that different power bases have different effects on an individual’s PTMS levels within a work group.