In previous studies, it was found that powerful people tend to become more selfish irrespective of the fairness or equity of their power. In this context, power is defined as control over resources.

In one of the first researches of this kind, a series of recent studies conducted by Nicholas Hays, a Michigan State University scholar found that high-ranking people aren’t always selfish jerks. Whether they are or not depends on if they feel worthy of their prominent social position or not. Status or a prominent social position is about being respected by others.

While high-status people who feel they deserve the respect and admiration of others are in general not generous, those with high social status who don’t believe they earned that status are much more generous. Hays explains that prominent people who don’t believe they’ve earned their position often have a sense of inequity. To alleviate this, they become more generous.

Hays, an assistant professor of management has done a significant amount of research, the latest of which is one of a series of six scientific studies. More than 1,200 total participants were studied to examine the effects of social status on generosity. 255 MBA students were organized into 51 teams in one of the studies. This was done twice during a six-month project and the researchers looked at the participants’ perceptions of their own and their teammates’ social status, as well as their willingness to help their teammates.

Hays and Steven Blader, a professor at New York University, found that the effects of social status on generosity are dependent on the perceived deservingness of the person.

High-ranking people care about whether or not they deserve their position. Those who felt unworthy of their position were actually more generous, while the group who felt worthy of their rank were less generous. This is contrary to the view that high-ranking people always behave selfishly, as previously suggested by a substantial amount of research.

It has previously been found that generosity often leads to a high social status. The recent study took that a step further by researching what happens after people have attained high status. Hays concludes by saying that the generosity may not continue once people achieve that high status. It all depends on whether or not they feel they deserved that status.

The study findings are published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.