How Power Influences Behavior in Projects: A Theory of Planned Behavior Perspective

Abstract

While the effect of power on organizations has been well researched, how power influences behavior in projects is less well understood. Taking a case-study approach and using the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB), we traced the thoughts of project managers subject to power, particularly those who resisted. We discovered that power bore down on project managers through new injunctive norms, encouraging them either not to resist or eventually to compromise and yield to new norms that changed their experiential attitudes. The TPB brings a new perspective to project management research, illustrating how power affected project managers’ behavior and influenced project outcomes.