An examination of the relationship between hotel employees’ use of upward influence tactics and supervisor rating of employee promotability

Abstract

This study investigated how employees’ use of upward influence tactics predicted supervisor assessment of employee promotability. Data were collected from a four-star hotel in The Netherlands. One hundred and two employees’ use of upward influence tactics and their promotability were rated by their immediate supervisors. The findings showed that exchange positively and ingratiation negatively predicted promotability. Moreover, hard tactics interacted with rational tactics in predicting promotability. Specifically, assertiveness was positively related to promotability when rationality was high and unrelated to promotability when rationality was low; coalition was positively related to promotability when rationality was high and negatively related to promotability when rationality was low; coalition was positively related to promotability when exchange was high and unrelated to promotability when exchange was low; and upward appeal was negatively related to promotability when rationality was low and unrelated to promotability when rationality was high. Theoretical and practical implications were discussed.