Leading through gaze: enhanced social attention in high-rank members of a large-scale organization

Animal studies have shown that the extent to which individuals follow others' gaze depends on the observer's rank within the group. The validity of this mechanism in human societies has yet to be determined. Typically, transient human ranking manipulations are conducted using role-playing, social comparison, or priming methods on convenience samples. One main point of novelty of the present study is the recruitment of participants working in stable low- and high-ranking positions in a real-world organization (company Ernst & Young). They were required to execute saccadic eye movements towards a position that could match or not the direction of gaze shown by distractor faces, manipulated for dominance (low, neutral, high). Eye movements were recorded with a high-resolution infrared eye tracker. The analyses of saccadic reaction time revealed that high-rank participants were more interfered by face distractors – irrespective of dominance level – with respect to low-rank ones. Our results allow the remarkable implication that a higher-order variable as hierarchical rank affects individuals’ permeability to social information. Crucial for the field of organizational neuroscience, oculomotor parameters may represent general indicators of leadership, with practical implications for the assessment of interpersonal dynamics in hierarchical social structures.