Got political skill? The direct and moderating impact of political skill on stress, tension and outcomes in restaurants
International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management
ISSN: 0959-6119
Article publication date: 14 February 2019
Issue publication date: 30 April 2019
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to propose a research model in which political skill (PS) exerts a direct effect on role stress, job tension, work engagement and service performance and buffers the deleterious impact of role stress on job tension. The model also investigates the interrelationships of role stress, job tension, work engagement and service performance.
Design/methodology/approach
The sample was drawn from 261 customer-contact employees in 15 casual restaurants in South Korea. Structural equation modeling was used to assess the aforementioned relationships.
Findings
The findings illustrate that PS alleviates role stress and job tension, while it fosters work engagement and service performance. PS is a panacea to the deleterious impact of role stress on job tension. As expected, role stress heightens job tension, while job tension mitigates work engagement. The findings further reveal that work engagement exerts a positive impact on service performance.
Practical implications
Training interventions can be used to develop employees’ PS. Management should hire the individuals with high PS because such employees can work in harmony with the organizational culture and experience lower role stress and job tension.
Originality/value
The extant hospitality research implicitly demonstrates that very little is known about the outcomes of PS and its moderating role on the relationship between role stress and job tension. The current work set out to fill in this gap.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
Data came from part of a broader project. Details of the analyses regarding comparisons of the measurement models without and with the MLMF, comparisons of discriminant validity test without and with the MLMF and comparisons of test of the structural models without and with the MLMF can be obtained from the first author.
Citation
Kim, T.T., Karatepe, O.M. and Chung, U.Y. (2019), "Got political skill? The direct and moderating impact of political skill on stress, tension and outcomes in restaurants", International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, Vol. 31 No. 3, pp. 1367-1389. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJCHM-01-2018-0014
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2019, Emerald Publishing Limited