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Political skill and self-serving counterproductive work behaviors: Moderating role of perceptions of organizational politics

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 September 2019

Fariha Zahid Open the ORCID record for Fariha Zahid [Opens in a new window] ,
Arif Nazir Butt  and
Abdul Karim Khan
Fariha Zahid*
Affiliation:
Suleman Dawood School of Business, Lahore University of Management Sciences, Opposite sector “U”, Lahore Cantt, Postal Code 54792, Lahore, Pakistan
Arif Nazir Butt
Affiliation:
Suleman Dawood School of Business, Lahore University of Management Sciences, Opposite sector “U”, Lahore Cantt, Postal Code 54792, Lahore, Pakistan
Abdul Karim Khan
Affiliation:
UAE University, Office 2051, Building H-3, Khalifa Bin Zayed Road, Al Ain15551, UAE
*
*Corresponding author. Email: fariha.zahid@lums.edu.pk
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Abstract

The scholarship on political skill documents that it is a social savvy, personal style construct, associated with positive personal and organizational outcomes. However, this study takes a counterintuitive view and demonstrates that despite being a positive resource, political skill also has the potential to be used as a self-serving device to achieve one's personal agendas in the form of self-serving counterproductive work behaviors. Borrowing insights from the trait activation theory, this study demonstrates that a context, high in political perceptions, acts as an incentivized condition for politically skilled people to execute its dark side. The results supported the hypothesis and revealed that under high perceptions of organizational politics, political skill will have a significant, positive relation with self-serving counterproductive work behaviors. The study discusses important theoretical and practical implications of these results and extends the domains of political skill and counterproductive work behaviors.

Keywords

organizational behaviorpower and politicsquantitative methodsAsia
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Management & Organization , Volume 28 , Issue 5 , September 2022 , pp. 993 - 1010
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press and Australian and New Zealand Academy of Management 2019

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