Search results
1 – 10 of over 36000Zinta S. Byrne, Steven G. Manning, James W. Weston and Wayne A. Hochwarter
Research on perceptions of organizational politics has mostly explored the negative aspects and detrimental outcomes for organizations and employees. Responding to recent calls in…
Abstract
Research on perceptions of organizational politics has mostly explored the negative aspects and detrimental outcomes for organizations and employees. Responding to recent calls in the literature for a more balanced treatment, we expand on how positive and negative organizational politics perceptions are perceived as stressors and affect employee outcomes through their influence on the social environment. We propose that employees appraise positive and negative organization politics perceptions as either challenge or hindrance stressors, to which they respond with engagement and disengagement as problem-focused and emotion-focused coping strategies. Specifically, employees who appraise the negative politics perceptions as a hindrance, use both problem- and emotion-focused coping, which entails one of three strategies: (1) decreasing their engagement, (2) narrowing the focus of their engagement, or (3) disengaging. Although these strategies result in negative outcomes for the organization, employees’ coping leads to their positive well-being. In contrast, employees appraising positive politics perceptions as a challenge stressor use problem-focused coping, which involves increasing their engagement to reap the perceived benefits of a positive political environment. Yet, positive politics perceptions may also be appraised as a hindrance stressor in certain situations, and, therefore lead employees to apply emotion-focused coping wherein they use a disengagement strategy. By disengaging, they deal with the negative effects of politics perceptions, resulting in positive well-being. Thus, our framework suggests an unexpected twist to the stress process of politics perceptions as a strain-provoking component of employee work environments.
Details
Keywords
This paper aims to examine three sets of antecedents of organizational politics perceptions: organizational antecedents, job work context antecedents, and personal antecedents.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to examine three sets of antecedents of organizational politics perceptions: organizational antecedents, job work context antecedents, and personal antecedents.
Design/methodology/approach
Survey data were collected from 206 full‐time Arab employees of seven Kuwaiti companies and four industries (financial services, investment, real estate, and communication).
Findings
Results of multiple regression analysis showed job/work context factors and hierarchical level to be significant predictors of perceptions of organizational politics. However, contrary to the findings of previous research, formalization and centralization did not have a significant effect on organizational politics perceptions.
Research limitations/implications
The potential for common method variance that may be associated with the use of a single source, self‐report methodology of data collection represents a limitation.
Practical implications
The study is very useful in raising the level of awareness of managers, at various levels of the organization, of the potential consequences of their political behavior to their employees.
Originality/value
This study expands such research on organizational politics in a different cultural setting, one that is characterized by lower individualism and higher power distance.
Details
Keywords
Arun Aggarwal, Kamrunnisha Nobi, Amit Mittal and Sanjay Rastogi
The personality of an individual plays a vital role in the way an individual perceives organizational politics and justice in the workplace. However, there is meager research on…
Abstract
Purpose
The personality of an individual plays a vital role in the way an individual perceives organizational politics and justice in the workplace. However, there is meager research on how an individual's personality affects the perceptions of organizational politics and justice. This study endeavors to fill this gap by analyzing the mediating role of organizational politics perceptions on the relationship between Big Five personality dimensions and organizational justice by controlling various demographic variables. The study also proposes a benchmarking model that the policymakers can use to create positive organizational justice perceptions.
Design/methodology/approach
In this cross-sectional research, the data were collected through a multi-stage random sampling technique from 493 faculty members working in four public universities of Punjab, India. Out of 493 employees, 76.9% of the employees were assistant professors, 12.0% were associate professors and 11.2% were assistant professors. 51.5% of the employees were female, and 48.5% of the employees were male. To test the proposed hypothesized relationships, a structural equation modeling technique was used.
Findings
Results of the structural equation modeling showed that openness to experience, conscientiousness and extraversion have a negative relationship with perceptions of organizational politics. However, their relationship with perceptions of organizational justice is positive. Neuroticism has a positive relationship with perceptions of organizational politics, whereas it has a negative relationship with perceptions of organizational justice. Results also showed that high perceptions of organizational politics have a negative effect on employee's perceptions regarding organizational justice. The mediation analysis results showed that perceptions of organizational politics mediate the relationship between an individual's personality and perceptions of organizational justice.
Originality/value
There is a scant amount of research available that considers Big Five personality dimensions and organizational politics as the antecedents of organizational justice. Hence, the current study tries to fill this research gap by proposing a research model on antecedents and consequences of perceptions of organizational politics based on the cognitive-affective processing system (CAPS).
Details
Keywords
Sakina Abbad Al Jisr, Abdul Rahman Beydoun and Nehale Mostapha
The purpose of this paper is to examine the influence of one personal variable (locus of control) and two relationship variables (leader-member exchange and co-worker cooperation…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the influence of one personal variable (locus of control) and two relationship variables (leader-member exchange and co-worker cooperation) on perceptions of organizational politics in Lebanese small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).
Design/methodology/approach
Survey data was collected from 300 Lebanese employees from different SMEs located between Tripoli and Beirut.
Findings
Results of regression analysis indicated that all the three variables were significant predictors of perceptions of politics, and that perceptions of politics affected employee outcomes. More specifically, higher levels of politics are associated with higher turnover intention and lower job satisfaction.
Practical implications
Results of this study raise several implications for companies and employers. Perceptions of politics were found to have a negative impact on employee attitudinal and behavioral outcomes. Therefore, employers must examine the factors that affect employee perceptions of politics in the workplace. Since leader-member exchange and co-worker cooperation were found to predict politics, management's efforts should focalize on improving the relationships between employees and their supervisor as well as their relationships with each other. Management should develop strategies to create an atmosphere of cooperation and support in the organization.
Originality/value
There is paucity of studies on organizational politics in Arabic cultures. This study extends the organizational politics literature by investigating antecedents and outcomes of politics in Lebanon, a country that differs in its culture from US and European contexts.
Details
Keywords
A model of perceptions of organizational politics was developed and tested using a sample of 208 Malaysian employees from diverse occupations and organizations. Results of a path…
Abstract
A model of perceptions of organizational politics was developed and tested using a sample of 208 Malaysian employees from diverse occupations and organizations. Results of a path analysis on the survey data showed that job ambiguity, scarcity of resources, and trust climate were significant predictors of perceptions of organizational politics. Perceptions of organizational politics, in turn, mediated the effects of these situational antecedents on job stress, job satisfaction, and turnover intention. Specifically, employees who perceived a high level of politics in their workplace reported higher levels of stress, lower levels of job satisfaction, and higher levels of intention to quit than did employees who perceived a low level of politics. Implications of the findings and suggestions for future research are discussed.
Details
Keywords
Rachel E. Kane-Frieder, Wayne A. Hochwarter, Herlanda L. Hampton and Gerald R. Ferris
The purpose of this study is to investigate the role of subordinates' perceived supervisor political support (SPS) as a boundary condition capable of attenuating individuals'…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to investigate the role of subordinates' perceived supervisor political support (SPS) as a boundary condition capable of attenuating individuals' negative reactions to politics perceptions.
Design/methodology/approach
Data for this three-sample investigation were obtained from employees of a package distribution firm (n=144), employees of an engineering firm (n=187), and individuals attending a manufacturing-related professional conference (n=174). Data were analyzed using hierarchical moderated regression analyses.
Findings
Consistent with prior research, individuals' politics perceptions were directly associated with less than desirable workplace outcomes. However, individuals' who perceived their supervisors to provide them with SPS were less negatively affected by politics perceptions than their peers who perceived low levels of SPS.
Research limitations/implications
SPS appears to provide information to subordinates to aid in sensemaking such that they are better able to deal with requisite uncertainty associated with their political settings, and in doing so, SPS shifts their perceptions of the political environment from that of threat to potential benefit.
Originality/value
This investigation in one of a handful of studies to examine the other-benefitting role of political behavior as well as the conditions under which politics perceptions result in auspicious outcomes. Additionally, the manuscript is unique in that it introduces, conceptually delineates, and empirically evaluates a more active, behavioral form of supervisory support (i.e. SPS).
Details
Keywords
Samantha L. Jordan, Wayne A. Hochwarter, Gerald R. Ferris and Aqsa Ejaz
The purpose of this paper is to test the interactive effects of grit (e.g. supervisor and employee) and politics perceptions on relevant work outcomes. Specifically, the authors…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to test the interactive effects of grit (e.g. supervisor and employee) and politics perceptions on relevant work outcomes. Specifically, the authors hypothesized that supervisor and employee grit would each demonstrate neutralizing effects when examined jointly.
Design/methodology/approach
Three studies (N’s=526, 229, 522) were conducted to test the moderating effect across outcomes, including job satisfaction, turnover intentions, citizenship behavior and work effort. The authors controlled for affectivity and nonlinear main effect terms in Studies 2 and 3 following prior discussion.
Findings
Findings across studies demonstrated a unique pattern differentiating between grit sources (i.e. employee vs supervisor) and outcome characteristic (i.e. attitudinal vs behavioral). In sum, both employee and supervisor grit demonstrated neutralizing effects when operating in politically fraught work settings.
Research limitations/implications
Despite the single source nature of data collections, the authors took steps to minimize potential biasing factors (e.g. time separation, including affectivity). Future research will benefit from multiple sources of data as well as a more expansive view of the grit construct.
Practical implications
Work contexts have grown increasingly more political in recent years primarily as a result of social and motivational factors. Hence, the authors recommend that leaders investigate factors that minimize its potentially malignant effects. Although grit is often challenging to cultivate through interventions, selection and quality of work life programs may be useful in preparing workers to manage this pervasive source of stress.
Originality/value
Despite its practical appeal, grit’s impact in work settings has been under-studied, leading to apparent gaps in science and leadership development. Creative studies, building off the research, will allow grit to maximize its contributions to both scholarship and employee well-being.
Details
Keywords
L.A. Witt, Darren C. Treadway and Gerald R. Ferris
We examined the moderating role of age on the politics perceptions—organizational commitment relationship. Confirmatory factor analyses of data collected from 633 office employees…
Abstract
We examined the moderating role of age on the politics perceptions—organizational commitment relationship. Confirmatory factor analyses of data collected from 633 office employees of a private sector organization indicated that the scales measuring politics and commitment reflected unique constructs. Perceptions of politics were inversely but weakly related to commitment. However, results of hierarchical moderated multiple regression analysis revealed that perceptions of organizational politics and commitment were essentially unrelated among workers in and above their 40s, but were moderately related among younger workers. Implications of the results and directions for future research are discussed.
This study examined the moderating effect of perceived control on the relationship between perceptions of organizational politics and two outcome variables: job stress and intent…
Abstract
This study examined the moderating effect of perceived control on the relationship between perceptions of organizational politics and two outcome variables: job stress and intent to quit. Survey data from 103 employees of a company in Malaysia were analyzed using moderated multiple regression. The results showed that perceived politics had adverse effects only on employees with low perceived control. Specifically, in a work environment that is perceived to be political, employees with low levels of perceived control reported experiencing more job stress and expressed greater intention to quit their job than did employees with high levels of perceived control. Implications of the findings and suggestions for future research are discussed.
This study expanded previous studies on the relationship between POP (Perceptions of Organizational Politics) and OC (Organizational Commitment); and it examined the mediating…
Abstract
Purpose
This study expanded previous studies on the relationship between POP (Perceptions of Organizational Politics) and OC (Organizational Commitment); and it examined the mediating effect of OCM (Organizational Concern Motive) and the moderated mediating effect of PS (Political Skills). Based on the uncertainty management and expectancy theories, the mediating role of OCM was assumed; also, the moderated mediating effect of PS was assumed, because of the effect of the POP on members' motives would vary depending on each individual's ability to respond.
Design/methodology/approach
To collect the required data for analyzing the research model of this study, a questionnaire was conducted on employees of South Korean companies and institutions. To verify the hypothesis of this study, the measurement and hypothesized models were analyzed sequentially.
Findings
The results of this study indicated that the OCM mediates the relationship between POP and OC. Furthermore, the mediating effect of OCM is moderated by PS. Specifically the negative effect of the POP on the OCM was mitigated in the group with proficient PS.
Research limitations/implications
To mitigate the negative effects of POP, this study suggests that managers should provide fair evaluation and reward based on performance, and consider PS as an important factor in employee selection and education/training.
Originality/value
This study is original in that it presents the mechanisms of both variables in terms of an individual's motive towards the organization. Furthermore, this study is valuable in that it suggests ways to mitigate the negative effects of POP through PS.
Details