Importance of women's political skill in male-dominated organizations

Abstract

Purpose

The aim of this paper is to investigate whether or not political skill helps women working in a male-dominated environment to obtain positions with authority.

Design/methodology/approach

Surveys were emailed to female lawyers working full-time in a variety of law firms across the USA. Participants were 140 lawyers with an average of ten years of practicing law.

Findings

In support of their hypotheses, the authors found that when working in male-dominated organizations, women with high levels of political skill fared better than women with low levels of political skill in terms of obtaining positions with authority.

Research limitations/implications

Because the research design was cross-sectional, direction of causality cannot be established. Second, common method bias may have affected the observed relationships.

Practical implications

Given that women with political skill may be able to recognize and break down the barriers that are especially present in male-dominated organizations, women and managers alike should consider training to help women understand and enhance their political skill.

Social implications

This research highlights the particular challenge of workplace politics for women and presents political skill as a potential solution.

Originality/value

This research is the first to demonstrate the benefit of having political skill for women working in male-dominated organizations.

Citation

Baskerville Watkins, M. and Nicole Smith, A. (2014), "Importance of women's political skill in male-dominated organizations", Journal of Managerial Psychology, Vol. 29 No. 2, pp. 206-222. https://doi.org/10.1108/JMP-06-2012-0106