Understanding and Explanation of Upward Influence in Public Sector

Most management researches focus on managing subordinates, but there are few research studies on upward influence. The purpose of this research is to determine and explain how this influence happens. This research has been done based on a mixed method with two parts (quantitative and qualitative). In the first step, qualitative methods have been deployed. Based on a qualitative method, we drew the package of upward influence strategies and then the results of qualitative methods were tested. Data gathering was done through interviews and questionnaires. The populations are from two universities (Tarbiat Modares University and Chamran University). Part of the results showed that strategies consist of (1) establishing indebtedness, (2) building mutual trust, (3) coalition, (4) building interdependence between manager and employee, (5) persuasion, (6) secrecy, and (7) conditioning. Some other results showed that self-assessment of influence behaviors is different from assessment of others. Also, establishing indebtedness is higher in self-assessment and the use of building mutual trust, conditioning, and secrecy is higher in otherassessment of influence behaviors.