The Agentic-Communal Model of Power: implications for consumer behavior

• Provides an overview of the construct of psychological power.
• Reviews an Agentic-Communal Model of Power.
• Discusses how psychological power affects consumer behavior.

This paper presents an Agentic-Communal Model of Power as a means to understand how power shapes and guides consumer behavior. We present theoretical arguments and review empirical data that reveal how the possession of power can produce a more agentic orientation within consumers, whereas the lack of power can produce a more communal orientation within consumers. As a consequence of either an increased agentic or communal orientation, psychological states of power and powerlessness affect a wide variety of consumer behaviors ranging from gift giving to persuasion to consumer misconduct. The Agentic-Communal Model of Power brings clarity to the full range of consumer behavior affected by power.