Political behaviors as moderators of the perceptions of organizational politics—work outcomes relationships

Abstract

This study investigates the complexities involved in the relationships between perceptions of politics and work outcomes by examining the effects of political behavior on that relationship. More specifically, we suggest that political behavior may serve as a form of control or as a mechanism for coping with highly political organizational environments perceived by individuals to be aversive. As such, we propose moderating roles of self-promotion and ingratiation on the relationships between perceptions of politics and the work outcomes of satisfaction with job in general, satisfaction with supervision, and intent to leave. It was hypothesized that increased exercise of self-promotion and ingratiation behaviors would mitigate the negative effects of perceptions of organizational politics on those specific outcomes. Hypotheses were supported for the proposed relationships between self-promotion and two of the work outcomes: satisfaction with supervision and intent to leave. Significant effects were also found for ingratiation; however, they were opposite to those proposed for the perceptions of organizational politics–intent to leave relationship. Implications of results and areas for future research are discussed. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.