Situational antecedents and outcomes of organizational politics perceptions

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.

[1]  Eran Vigoda,et al.  Internal Politics in Public Administration Systems , 2000 .

[2]  William P. Anthony,et al.  An Examination of the Perceptions of Organizational Politics Model: Replication and Extension , 1999 .

[3]  P. Salovey,et al.  Emotional Intelligence , 1990, Encyclopedia of Personality and Individual Differences.

[4]  Mark W. Johnston,et al.  Analysis of role conflict and role ambiguity in a structural equations framework , 1990 .

[5]  S. Chaiken,et al.  The psychology of attitudes. , 1993 .

[6]  J. H. Davis,et al.  An Integrative Model Of Organizational Trust , 1995 .

[7]  Dwight D. Frink,et al.  Perceptions of Organizational Politics: Prediction, Stress-Related Implications, and Outcomes , 1996 .

[8]  F. Heider,et al.  The psychological life space as space in the sense of mathematics. , 1936 .

[9]  Gerald R. Ferris,et al.  Perceptions of Organizational Politics Scale (POPS): Development and Construct Validation , 1991 .

[10]  K. Eisenhardt,et al.  Politics of Strategic Decision Making in High-Velocity Environments: Toward a Midrange Theory , 1988 .

[11]  J. Wagner,et al.  Percept-Percept Inflation in Microorganizational Research: An Investigation of Prevalence and Effect , 1994 .

[12]  D. B. Fedor,et al.  Perceptions of politics: does measuring different foci matter? , 1998, The Journal of applied psychology.

[13]  Russell Cropanzano,et al.  Organizational politics and organizational support as predictors of work attitudes, job performance, and organizational citizenship behavior. , 1999 .

[14]  Dawn S. Carlson,et al.  Further Validation of the Perceptions of Politics Scale (Pops): A Multiple Sample Investigation , 1997 .

[15]  R. Sitgreaves Psychometric theory (2nd ed.). , 1979 .

[16]  Eran Vigoda Organizational Politics, Job Attitudes, and Work Outcomes: Exploration and Implications for the Public Sector. , 2000 .

[17]  Amos Drory,et al.  Politics in Organization and its Perception within the Organization , 1988 .

[18]  Peter M. Bentler,et al.  EQS : structural equations program manual , 1989 .

[19]  Blake E. Ashforth,et al.  Defensive Behavior in Organizations: A Preliminary Model , 1990 .

[20]  Gerald R. Ferris,et al.  Commitment as an antidote to the tension and turnover consequences of organizational politics. , 1999 .

[21]  Roderick M. Kramer,et al.  Trust and distrust in organizations: emerging perspectives, enduring questions. , 1999, Annual review of psychology.

[22]  T. Morrison,et al.  A Comparison of Situational and Dispositional Predictors of Perceptions of Organizational Politics , 2001, The Journal of psychology.

[23]  Gerald R. Ferris,et al.  Perceptions of Organizational Politics , 1992 .

[24]  Alicia A. Grandey,et al.  The relationship of organizational politics and support to work behaviors, attitudes, and stress , 1997 .

[25]  L. Witt Enhancing organizational goal congruence: A solution to organizational politics. , 1998 .

[26]  P. Perrewé,et al.  Organizational Politics, Perceived Control, and Work Outcomes: Boundary Conditions on the Effects of Politics1 , 2001 .

[27]  Robert L. Dipboye,et al.  Perceptions of Organizational Politics: An Investigation of Antecedents and Consequences , 1995 .

[28]  Jon M. Werner,et al.  Managers as Initiators of Trust: An Exchange Relationship Framework for Understanding Managerial Trustworthy Behavior , 1998 .

[29]  P. Perrewé,et al.  Do Politics Perceptions Relate to Political Behaviors? Tests of an Implicit Assumption and Expanded Model , 2000 .

[30]  Amos Drory,et al.  Perceived Political Climate and Job Attitudes , 1993 .

[31]  Gareth R. Jones,et al.  The experience and evolution of trust: Implications for cooperation and teamwork , 1998 .

[32]  L. Witt,et al.  The Moderating Effect of Teamwork Perceptions on the Organizational Politics-Job Satisfaction Relationship , 2001, The Journal of social psychology.

[33]  K. Eisenhardt Agency- and Institutional-Theory Explanations: The Case of Retail Sales Compensation , 1988 .

[34]  S. Folkman,et al.  Stress, appraisal, and coping , 1974 .

[35]  S. Zahra Organizational politics and the strategic process , 1987 .

[36]  Mark W. Johnston,et al.  The role of emotional exhaustion in sales force attitude and behavior relationships , 1999 .

[37]  G. Hofstede The Cultural Relativity of Organizational Practices and Theories , 1983 .

[38]  Henry Mintzberg,et al.  Power in and Around Organizations , 1983 .

[39]  John P. Campbell,et al.  JOB SATISFACTION: ARE ALL THE PARTS THERE? , 1983 .

[40]  Understanding Political Behaviour in Organizations: A Framework , 1992 .

[41]  L. A. Witt,et al.  The Role of Participation in Decision-Making in the Organizational Politics-Job Satisfaction Relationship , 2000 .

[42]  S. Breckler Applications of covariance structure modeling in psychology: cause for concern? , 1990, Psychological bulletin.

[43]  N. L. Chervany,et al.  Initial Trust Formation in New Organizational Relationships , 1998 .

[44]  Fanny Caranikas-Walker,et al.  A meta-analytical structural equations analysis of a model of employee turnover. , 1992 .

[45]  G. R. Ferris,et al.  Politics in human resources decisions: A walk on the dark side , 1991 .

[46]  E. A. Locke The nature and causes of job satisfaction , 1976 .

[47]  J. Nunnally Psychometric Theory (2nd ed), New York: McGraw-Hill. , 1978 .

[48]  F. Heider,et al.  Principles of topological psychology , 1936 .

[49]  N. L. Chervany,et al.  Initial trust formation in new organizational relationships, Academy of Management Review, , . , 1998 .

[50]  T. Das,et al.  Trust, Control, and Risk in Strategic Alliances: An Integrated Framework , 2001 .

[51]  Patricia M. Fandt,et al.  Politics in organizations. , 1989 .

[52]  J. P. Wanous,et al.  Overall job satisfaction: how good are single-item measures? , 1997, The Journal of applied psychology.

[53]  S. Zahra,et al.  Corporate social responsibility and organizational effectiveness: A multivariate approach , 1987 .

[54]  D. Vredenburgh,et al.  A Process Framework of Organizational Politics , 1984 .