Fairness Reduces the Negative Effects of Organizational Politics on Turnover Intentions,Citizenship Behavior and Job Performance

Responses from 150 employees revealed that procedural justice reduced the negative effects of perceptions of covert, self-serving political behaviors (e.g., going along with others), but not overt political behaviors (e.g., tearing others down to build up self) on turnover intentions. Both procedural and interactional justice moderated effects of covert, but not overt political behaviors, on OCB beneficial to the organization; however, the interaction between interactional justice and covert behaviors was in the opposite direction than hypothesized. Neither interactional nor procedural justice moderated the two forms of perceptions of politics on supervisory rated job performance or OCB beneficial to supervisors. Note: I would like to thank Wayne Hochwarter, Suzanne Masterson, and Rob Moorman for their valuable comments on an earlier draft.     

Looking on the Bright Side: The Positive Role of Organisational Politics in the Relationship between Employee Engagement and Performance at Work

Scholars have largely focused on the negative consequences of organisational politics for employees' performance. In contrast, we maintain that organisational politics has positive aspects and moderates the relationship between employee engagement and behaviors at work such as knowledge sharing, creativity, proactivity, and adaptivity. Using data from 253 high‐tech employees and their supervisors in Israel, our findings demonstrate that perceptions of organisational politics strengthen the relationship between employee engagement and these behaviors. When engaged employees perceive their workplace to be political, they are more proactive, creative, and adaptive, and more likely to share their knowledge with their peers. These findings confirm the challenge/opportunity stressor theory regarding perceptions of organisational politics and suggest that whether politics is viewed as positive or negative depends on the employees' point of view. For those who are engaged and more actively involved in their jobs, politics can be regarded as a challenge and even an opportunity for obtaining more resources to improve their performance. Implications for the development of theory and practice in this area are discussed.     

Organizational Politics and Deviance: Exploring the Role of Political Skill

Building on social exchange theory, this study examines the relationship between perceptions of organizational politics and employee performance and interpersonal skills. We hypothesized that perceptions of organizational politics create an imbalance in the exchange relationship between employee and organization, which leads to organizational deviance. We also hypothesized that supervisors may attempt to rebalance the exchange relationship by providing lower performance and interpersonal skills ratings. Finally, we suggest that politically skilled employees avoid an increase in negative ratings. The present study demonstrates that perceptions of organizational politics may lead to negative employee behaviors and reduced supervisors’ ratings in an effort to rebalance the exchange relationship. In addition, politically skilled employees may avoid increased negative ratings when politics perceptions are high.     

How contextual and individual characteristics influence psychological needs satisfaction: The critical roles of political skill and political will

This two-study research package investigates the interactive effects of perceptions of organizational politics, political skill, and political will on psychological need satisfaction, which has been shown to predict a number of different important organizational outcomes. Drawing primarily on social/political influence and self-determination theories, we propose that although perceptions of organizational politics (i.e., as an important situational or contextual variable) can demonstrate need-thwarting effects for some, its effects can be need-satisfying for those individuals with high levels of political skill and political will. In Study 1, we analyze a sample of 142 individuals to demonstrate that possessing political skill attenuates the negative effects of perceptions of organizational politics on psychological need satisfaction. In Study 2, we analyze a sample of 420 individuals to demonstrate that respondents with high levels of both political skill and political will experience their highest levels of need satisfaction in highly political environments. Theoretical contributions, limitations and future research directions, and practical implications are discussed.     

Politics perceptions as moderator of the political skill – job performance relationship: A two-study, cross-national, constructive replication

We developed a two-study, cross-national, constructive replication to examine the role of organizational politics perceptions as a contextual moderator of the political skill – job performance relationship. Specifically, we hypothesized that high levels of political skill would demonstrate its strongest positive effects on job performance when politics perceptions were perceived as low. Conversely, we hypothesized that political skill would demonstrate no relationship with job performance under conditions of high politics perceptions. Across studies conducted both in the United States and Greece, the hypothesis received strong support. In settings characterized by lower perceived politics, high levels of political skill predicted significant increases in job performance, whereas these effects were attenuated in environments characterized by high perceived politics. Contributions and implications of this research, strengths and limitations, and directions for future study are discussed.     

员工政治自我效能对组织公民行为的影响研究：心理资本的调节作用

本研究以来自5家公司的272对主管与员工之间的配对数据为样本,探讨了员工政治自我效能与组织公民行为间的关系以及心理资本的调节作用。研究结果表明：政治自我效能与组织公民行为之间呈现倒U型的关系,当员工政治自我效能较低和较高时,组织公民行为都比较低,而当他们的政治自我效能处于中等水平时,组织公民行为最高;心理资本对组织公民行为具有积极的促进作用,同时能够减弱员工政治自我效能对组织公民行为的倒U型影响。     

Creating One’s Reality: The Interaction of Politics Perceptions and Enactment Behavior

ABSTRACT

The current study investigated the previously unexamined relationship between politics perceptions and employee enactment behavior. Consistent with previous job stress and sense-making research, we hypothesized that individuals reporting low levels of enactment behaviors would be more adversely affected by politics perceptions than those who engaged in high levels of enactment behavior. Results across two samples provided strong support for the hypothesized relationships. Specifically, employees who reported low levels of enactment behavior experienced less satisfaction, less person–environment fit, and reported lower levels of effort when faced with highly political environments. Conversely, levels of satisfaction and person–environment fit perceptions of individuals reporting high levels of enactment behaviors were largely unaffected by highly political contexts. Implications of these findings, strengths and limitations, and avenues for future research are provided.     

Perceptions of Organizational Politics and Employee Citizenship Behaviors: Conscientiousness and Self-monitoring as Moderators

Purpose

The purpose of the study was to examine the joint moderating effects of employees’ conscientiousness and self-monitoring on the relationship between perceptions of organizational politics and organizational citizenship behaviors.

Design/Methodology/Approach

Data were collected from 139 subordinate–supervisor dyads through networks of business contacts and university alums of a university in the Midwest US.

Findings

We found a significant three-way interaction between perceived politics, conscientiousness, and self-monitoring in predicting citizenship behaviors. High self-monitoring alleviated the negative effects of politics perceptions on the OCB of highly conscientious employees. Conversely, perceived politics was negatively related to the OCB of employees who reported having either low self-monitoring and high conscientiousness or high self-monitoring and low conscientiousness.

Implications

Our results advance the theoretical understanding of the relationship between perceptions of organizational politics and citizenship behaviors by integrating the occupational stress perspective with social exchange theory within the socio-analytic framework. Evidence suggests that employees with certain combinations of traits (e.g., low self-monitoring and high conscientiousness or high self-monitoring and low conscientiousness) were particularly susceptible to the negative effects of perceived politics. This knowledge may help practitioners identify training needs or motivational strategies to help alleviate the negative effects of perceived politics on employee citizenship behaviors.

Originality/Value

This study is one of the few that took a holistic person-oriented approach when examining the moderating effects of individual traits on the linkages between perceived politics and citizenship behaviors. In addition, we utilized supervisor ratings of citizenship behaviors to overcome concerns associated with common source bias.     

工作场所的组织政治会危害员工绩效吗？基于个人-组织契合理论的视角

本研究基于个人-组织契合理论的视角, 通过对286份员工与直接主管的配对数据, 揭示了组织政治知觉对员工绩效(任务绩效和组织公民行为)的影响, 马基雅维利主义人格对这两者之间关系的调节作用, 组织认同在这两者之间的中介作用。层次回归分析结果发现：组织政治知觉对任务绩效、组织公民行为具有显著的消极影响, 马基雅维利主义人格可以显著调节组织政治知觉与任务绩效、组织公民行为两者之间的关系, 而组织认同是组织政治知觉与任务绩效、组织公民行为之间的完全中介变量。调节路径分析结果表明：马基雅维利主义对组织政治知觉与员工绩效之间关系的调节作用也是以组织认同为中介, 具体表现为被中介的调节作用。     

A mutual acculturation model of multicultural campus climate and acceptance of diversity

This study examines the relationship between college students' perceptions of their campus' multicultural climate and their acceptance of racial/ethnic diversity. A two-mediator model, based on acculturation principles, was successfully fit to survey data from 434 college students of diverse racial/ethnic heritage. Results showed that valuing positive interactions with members of ethnocultural groups other than one's own is a positive mediator and strength of ethnocultural identity is a (much less important) negative mediator of the relationship between student perceptions of multicultural campus programming and personal acceptance of diverse racial/ethnic groups. Furthermore, each mediator independently contributed to the prediction of such acceptance. Overall, the model accounts for about 25% of the variance in acceptance of diversity and was a better fit to the data than a reverse path model. Follow-up analyses, separately by ethnic group, showed that perceptions of campus programming predicted acceptance of diversity for the White subsample, but not for the Latino subsample. Nevertheless, the two acculturation-related constructs were important for both groups, with the model accounting for 28% and 24% of their respective variances in acceptance of diversity. Practical implications are drawn.     

Attractiveness of the "Middle of the Road" Political Candidate

Three classroom experiments were done in which subjects evaluated hypothetical political candidates based on the candidates' positions on three issues. In the first study, subjects evaluated the candidate advocating a neutral position on the issues lower than all other candidates. The second study systematically varied the number of neutral positions the candidates could take and the same result was found, viz., the more neutral positions the candidate took, the lower the evaluations. It was further found that one's own political position did not affect the negative evaluation of the neutral candidate. Subjects' perceptions of the candidate advocating neutrality were assessed in a third study. Results are discussed in the framework of dealing with possible optimal political strategies that candidates might use.     

Attributional style, depression, and perceptions of consensus for events

This study examined differences between depressed and nondepressed individuals' implicit perceptions of consensus, which may contribute to differences in their attributional styles. Subjects rated the extent to which positive, negative, and neutral events happen to themselves and to the average college student and completed measures of depth of depression and attributional style. Perceptions of consensus were highly correlated with all components of attributional style for negative and positive events. Hierarchical regression analyses revealed that ratings of others explained variance in attributional style beyond that explained by ratings of the self for positive but not for negative events. Path analyses, however, indicated that the indirect path from perceptions of consensus to depression mediated through attributional style was nonsignificant for positive events, although it was significant for negative events. These findings are discussed in terms of the role of perceptions of others as precursors of attributional style and depression.     

Overcoming the self-promotion dilemma: interpersonal attraction and extra help as a consequence of who sings one's praises

Prior research has shown that positive information presented by a third party shields people from the negative consequences of being perceived as self-promoting. But in many contexts, those third parties are intermediaries with a financial interest in the person being promoted rather than neutral parties. In three experimental studies, the authors demonstrate that even when intermediaries are not neutral, they can be helpful for overcoming the self-promotion dilemma--the need to assert one's competence but not be harmed by the fact that people who self-promote are viewed negatively. The authors find that hiring an agent to sing one's praises results in more favorable perceptions of the client, which contributes, in turn, to a greater willingness to offer that person assistance. It is also shown that even when the intermediary is physically present and seen to be complicit with the client, the positive effects of having someone else speak on one's behalf persist.     

Placing perceptions of politics in the context of the feedback environment, employee attitudes, and job performance

The authors proposed a model suggesting that organizational environments supporting high levels of informal supervisor and coworker feedback are associated with lower employee perceptions of organizational politics. Furthermore, these lowered perceptions of politics were proposed to result in higher employee morale (as reflected in job satisfaction and affective commitment) and, through morale, to higher levels of task performance and organizational citizenship. The proposed mediational model was supported with empirical results from 150 subordinate-supervisor dyads sampled across a variety of organizations. Higher quality feedback environments were associated with lower perceptions of organizational politics, and morale mediated the relationships between organizational politics and various aspects of work performance. These findings suggest that when employees have greater access to information regarding behaviors that are acceptable and desired at work, perceptions of politics are reduced and work outcomes are enhanced.     

The Interactive Effects of Pro‐Political Behavior and Politics Perceptions on Job Satisfaction and Affective Commitment1

The current study examined the impact of political behavior and perceptions of politics on job satisfaction and affective commitment. It is hypothesized that political behavior and perceived politics would interact to predict these outcomes such that those who reported greater use of these tactics would be more satisfied and committed when work environments were viewed as political in nature. Data were gathered from 131 police officers, who completed surveys following developmental programs. In general, results provided support for the hypothesis. Specifically, the Political Behavior × Perceived Politics interaction term explained incremental variance beyond demographic variables, control variables, and indicators of perceived control and understanding for each work outcome. These findings indicate that some individuals may experience positive consequences when occupying an environment perceived to be highly political. Implications of these findings, strengths and weaknesses, and avenues for future research are provided.     

Easing the strain: The buffer role of supervisors in the perceptions of politics–strain relationship

The positive relationship between perceptions of politics and strain has received a great deal of confirmation in the literature. What has been missing from these studies is a search for variables that minimize the negative outcomes associated with this relationship. In an effort to fill this void, the present paper investigated three possible moderators of the relationship between perceptions of politics and strain: leader–member exchange, participative decision‐making, and communication with supervisors. Results from a sample consisting of 1,255 respondents from two different organizations provided support for the buffering effect of supervisor variables on the perceptions of politics and strain relationship.     

政治与关系视角的员工职业发展影响因素探讨

通过对16家制造型企业中的343个员工、662个同事及343个直接领导的配对数据进行实证分析,文章探讨了员工的组织政治技能、政治知觉,以及他们与直接上司的关系对于员工职业发展的关系。多层线性分析模型（HLM）结果表明：员工的政治技能有助于促进其与领导之间形成良好的关系（guanxi）,并籍此积极影响个人在组织中的职业发展,员工－领导关系是政治技能与职业发展之间的中介变量。另外,组织政治知觉影响政治技能对领导关系的作用,在政治氛围浓重的组织中,员工－领导关系更易受到员工政治技能的影响     

Threat to ethnic identity: the experience of White Afrikaans-speaking participants in postapartheid South Africa

The dismantling of apartheid and the postapartheid dispensation had far-reaching implications for all the citizens of South Africa. In an urban sample of White Afrikaans-speaking South Africans (Afrikaners) in postapartheid South Africa, the authors investigated perceptions of threat to ethnic identity, as well as correlates of those perceptions. The respondents experienced threat on 2 levels: The 1st was distinctive continuity, the concern that their ethnic group would not continue as a distinctive group in society. The 2nd was the evaluative dimension of ethnic identity (i.e., well-being), the concern that group membership would no longer contribute to positive self-esteem. The respondents experienced greater threat on the 2nd level, reflecting predominantly negative experiences as White Afrikaans-speaking persons in postapartheid South Africa. A high threat perception on the 2nd level was associated with (a) a perception of other groups' negative evaluations of their ethnic group, (b) negative attitudes toward political changes, and (c) perceptions of illegitimacy and instability of the postapartheid political system. The respondents who felt that Afrikaners would not continue as a distinctive group in society had a more positive attitude toward the sociopolitical changes, did not show strong ethnic identification, and had a negative collective self-esteem. They were also politically more liberal. Those findings are discussed in relation to theoretical expectations.