Assessing cognitive perceptions of network centrality as a preferred measure of individual power

Management research has indicated that others' cognitive perceptions of an actor's central network position (CP) are more strongly associated with individual power than actual network position. Revisiting a classical dataset, this paper does similar findings. It is suspected, however, that CP may not merely be associated with power, but it rather measures the concept itself. Using external criterion variables, further analyses indicate that CP's validity as a measure of individual power is equally good - or perhaps better - than a traditional measure of referral power. CP is also insensitive to measure, which can have implications for studies of power in management research.