Please Like Me: Ingratiation as a Moderator of the Impact of the Perception of Organizational Politics on Job Satisfaction

Triana Fitriastuti,Pipiet Larasatie,Alex Vanderstraeten

doi:10.3390/ijerph18147455

Abstract

Drawing from the negative impacts of the perception of organizational politics (POP) on the literature on organizational outcomes, the model proposed in this study examines a nonlinear relationship of POP on job satisfaction. In a similar way, ingratiation as a moderator variable is tested. Based on a survey of 240 state-owned enterprise employees in Indonesia, this study finds that POP exhibits an inverted U-shaped relationship with job satisfaction. Low and high levels of POP have a negative impact on job satisfaction. Nevertheless, our most intriguing finding is that ingratiation behavior not only strengthens POP’s effects on job satisfaction, but can also alter the direction of the relationship in which its shape is represented by a U-shape. This shape indicates that the employees who engage in high levels of ingratiation as a coping mechanism and adaptive strategy tend to do so when they perceive high degrees of POP. These results are then discussed from a cross-cultural perspective as an attempt to explain the legitimacy of ingratiation in Indonesia.

Highlights

In an organization, politics may be considered as constituting one of the systems of influence [1] and is often considered as a standard operating procedure [2]
As ingratiation is perceived as ubiquitous to some extent in the workplace, this study aims to examine the magnitude of ingratiation, which has a substantive relation to job satisfaction [6,11,12]
Based on the aforementioned research, we propose a curvilinear, an inverted U-shape, between Perception of Organizational Politics (POP)

Summary

Introduction

Politics may be considered as constituting one of the systems of influence [1] and is often considered as a standard operating procedure [2]. Organizations need to engage in political behavior and execute these behaviors [1]. Politically skilled organization leaders may develop effective social skills [3]. In order to benefit and protect their self-interests, employees can perform illicit political activities, including coalition-building, backstabbing, favoritismbased pay, and promotion decisions, without considering the welfare of their institution or colleagues [5,6]. Organizational politics are often perceived as a divisive aspect of the workplace [1]. When employees perceive charged political behavior in their organization environment, there are at least three possible coping mechanism responses that they can use:

Objectives

Methods

Conclusion