How do work cultures favor abuse of power?
Abuse of power is not uncommon in the science system. 23.6% of BSS respondents stated that they had experienced abuse of power at least once. But how can we design work cultures that prevent abuse of power from arising? The BSS provided some clues: cooperative work cultures, in particular, create a positive environment that is free from abuse of power!
Ideally, research cultures and work cultures are designed to promote positive outcomes, such as research quality and innovativeness, and to minimise the probability of negative outcomes. Incidents of discrimination and abuse of power are to be understood as a very extreme negative effect of poor work culture. The Berlin Science Survey therefore also asked about experiences with discrimination and abuse of power. The results on discrimination were already highlighted in the BUA newsletter in June 2024. The questions on abuse of power were answered in a very similar way.
The questionnaire defined abuse of power as follows: “By using their position of power, a person harms others and takes advantage for themselves or their favourites.” 4% have regularly experienced abuse of power themselves, and almost 7% have regularly observed it (see Figure 1). 18% have observed abuse of power several times and 9.6% have experienced it several times. 10% have experienced it once and 14% have observed it once (see Figure 1).
Figure 1 Abuse of power in the workplace
Figure 2 Abuse of power in the working environment, by diversity characteristics
The risk of experiencing abuse of power is higher for certain groups of people (see Figure 2). For example, it is particularly high for gender diverse people (48%), as well as for people with long-term physical (35%) or mental (40%) illnesses (see Figure 2). Women (29%), people who belong to ethnic (29%) or religious minorities (32%), as well as those who identify as LGBTIQ+ (30%), also report abuse of power more often than the overall average (see Figure 2).
The question now is how these power structures can be broken down and what kind of environment is needed to create environments free of the abuse of power. Figure 3 provides some clues. Here, it is shown very clearly that research cultures and work cultures are closely related to the occurrence of discrimination and abuse of power. Discrimination and power abuse are significantly more prevalent in research cultures where cooperation is very low and competition is very strong. In these cultures, almost half of the respondents have already experienced discrimination and abuse of power. In addition, around 65% have observed these it (see Figure 3).
The situation is quite different in research cultures that are characterised by a high degree of cooperation without simultaneously inducing performance-based competition. Here, the proportion of those who have observed discrimination or abuse of power (32% and 30% respectively) and those who have experienced such behaviour themselves (only about 15%) is significantly lower. The shares increase slightly when performance-related competition is simultaneously implemented in research cultures with a high level of cooperation (see Figure 3).
Figure 3 Discrimination and abuse of power in the working environment, by types of work cultures
To summarize, the following can be said: In order to minimise the risk of abuse of power and discrimination while maintaining the existing focus on quality, as part of quality management, it is important to look not only at output but also at the work cultures in which the output is generated. Cooperative work cultures with open communication and a positive error culture, combined with reduced competition, are least susceptible to these risks. They are therefore the more sustainable work cultures in science.
Berlin Science Survey data
The data from the 2024 wave of the BSS are available for download as a scientific use file from the HU's open-access publication server: https://doi.org/10.18452/32547
The Berlin Science Survey
The Berlin Science Survey (BSS) is a scientific trend study on cultural change in the Berlin research landscape. To this end, the Robert K. Merton Center for Science and Technology Studies at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin regularly surveys the experiences and assessments of scientists in the Berlin research area online. 2,776 female scientists in the Berlin research area took part in the most recent study. We would like to express our sincere thanks to everyone who took part in the study. The whole report with all topics can be found here: https://www.berlinsciencesurvey.de/en/results24/sum