Abstract:  The status of an organizational member usually refers to the extent to which the individual is respected or admired by other members of the organization. It is a psychological construct that has attracted much attention in recent years. Although the status of an organizational member is related to the concepts of power, class, mianzi and organization-based self-esteem, there are clear conceptual differences among these constructs. The status of an organizational member is mainly affected by external personal factors (physical and demographic characteristics), intrinsic psychological factors (personality, cognition, emotion and behavior) and neurophysiological factors (testosterone and cortisol). Status also has significant impact on organizational members’ cognition, emotion, behavior and performance. Future research should further distinguish between the unique dimensions of organizational members’ status, explore the biological basis and cultural differences of organizational members’ status, pay attention to the dynamic evolution of organizational members’ status and its consequences, and examine the effects of team and organizational members' status distribution.

Key words: status, hierarchy, organization, antecedents, consequences