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HYPOTHESIS AND THEORY article

Front. Psychol.
Sec. Organizational Psychology
Volume 15 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1515277

The impact of consultants' power dynamics on clients' self-efficacy and managerial stress

Provisionally accepted
Rotem Lachmi Rotem Lachmi 1Batia Ben-Hador Batia Ben-Hador 2Yael Brender-Ilan Yael Brender-Ilan 2*
  • 1 Management Consultant, Tel Aviv, Israel
  • 2 Ariel University, Ariel, Israel

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Power bases in management are crucial for leaders to effectively influence their teams and achieve organizational goals. Management consultants leverage various power bases, particularly Expert and Referent power, to influence client organizations and drive change. While previous studies have examined factors distinguishing successful consultants and the power they need to motivate clients, they focused solely on consultants' perspectives. This study investigates the relationship between consultants' power bases (principally Expert and Referent) and clients' self-efficacy and managerial stress. The aim is to determine how consultants' use of their power base affects clients' experience and outcomes. One hundred clients participated in a study testing the correlation between consultants' power bases and clients' selfefficacy and stress management. Using moderation statistical models, a significant correlation was found between consultants' Expert power and clients' self-efficacy, with managerial stress moderating this relationship. Consulting success is measured by the extent to which it enhances clients' self-efficacy, enabling them to effectively achieve their organizational goals and overcome challenges. The results show that Expert power is crucial in boosting clients' self-efficacy, except under conditions of high managerial stress. This study contributes to the literature by highlighting a key power base and offering new insights into power dynamics in management consulting. Additionally, it provides practical benefits for enhancing consulting outcomes, influencing both client and consultant perspectives, and potentially improving the overall effectiveness of management consulting engagements.

    Keywords: management consulting, Consultant-Client Dynamics, Managerial stress, Expert power, power bases, power relations

    Received: 22 Oct 2024; Accepted: 24 Dec 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Lachmi, Ben-Hador and Brender-Ilan. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Yael Brender-Ilan, Ariel University, Ariel, Israel

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.