Abstract
Extant studies on organizational power adopt a top-down, unilateral perspective, featuring the diverse ways superiors can exercise their power. Little attention has been given to understand how subordinates can enact resistance under such asymmetrical power relationships during their daily encounters. The study examines how PhD students resist their supervisors’ power in academic settings through a qualitative case study approach. Drawing on interviews and observations, our typology identifies the four mechanisms for PhD supervisors to exercise power and their corresponding strategies adopted by students as a powerless group to assert agency and resist the influence and control. These insights can further our understanding about the intertwined relationships between power and resistance in academic settings.