Big Fish in Little Ponds

A big fish in a little pond is defined as an individual with a more positive reputation than the larger group (work unit or organization) within which he or she resides. The big fish in a little pond paradigm is important because it highlights the significance of multilevel reputation effects by including group perceptions of reputation along with individual ones. Specifically, the effects of the reputational context, or perceptions of the greater entity in which an individual is working (e.g., unit, group, team, organization), are important to take into consideration in combination with individual reputation perceptions because they can have different and joint effects on attitudes and behaviors in organizations.

When individuals have a higher reputation than their surroundings, they are more likely to think and ...