| This dissertation first reviews past literature that suggests that status may be distinguished along two distinct dimensions: a competence-based dimension and a social desirability-based dimension and puts forth the notion that individuals can have status along one or both these dimension simultaneously. Secondly, these studies build on research that suggests that having high status may be a burden, especially following a transgression or when expectations are not met. This dissertation suggests that an individual's status may not always be harmful. Rather, how observers respond to the transgressions of high status individuals may not be just a function of his or her high status, but instead how that individual earned that status and what type of transgression was made. That is, the amount of status loss experienced following a transgression depends on the domain of the transgression and how that aligns with what the transgressor is regarded for---what dimension he or she has built status on. Results from these studies show that when a high-status transgressor commits a task-related transgression status loss was the greatest, especially when the target had only competence-based status. However, that extent of that status loss was moderated by whether the transgressor had built status along the other dimension. Moreover, these studies show that following a social desirability-related transgression, status loss was not as great. |
