Power, Conflict, and Effectiveness: A Cross-Cultural Study in the United States and Bulgaria

This study investigated the relationships of bases of leader power (coercive, reward, legitimate, expert, and referent) and styles of handling interpersonal conflict (integrating, obliging, dominating, avoiding, and compromising) to subordinates' effectiveness. Data for this study were collected with questionnaires from the United States and Bulgaria and analyzed with hierarchical regression analysis for each country. Results indicated that in the United States referent power base of supervisors and integrating style of handling conflict of subordinates were positively associated with effectiveness. In Bulgaria, legitimate power base of supervisors was positively associated with effectiveness, but the subordinates' conflict styles were not associated with effectiveness.