The Effects of Political Skills on Leader Effectiveness and Change Outcome

Abstract

Leaders’ behaviors and qualities are often portrayed as important drivers of change success. However, apart some anecdotal evidence, limited empirical evidence is provided to support these assertions. The purpose of this study is therefore to examine whether and how the leaders’ political skills contribute to the leaders’ own effectiveness and, ultimately, to change success. Specifically, we examine the effects of three types of political skills (social emotional competency, leader humor, and apparent sincerity) on leader effectiveness, change outcome and employees’ intentions to support future change. With a quantitative study conducted among 463 employees working at various organizations, we show that leader political skills have a significant impact on leader effectiveness. We also find that leader effectiveness positively affects change outcome, which in turn affects employees’ intentions to support future change. However, leader effectiveness does not directly affect employees’ intentions to support future change. We then discuss the theoretical contributions and practical implications of our study.