Andreas Wihler

Personal Initiative and Job Performance Evaluations Role of Political Skill in Opportunity Recognition and Capitalization

In recent years, personal initiative has been found to predict job performance. However, implicit in this direct initiative–performance relationship are more complex process dynamics that can be better understood when contextual antecedents, moderators, and mediators are considered. Drawing from perspectives of proactive behavior as a goal-directed process, a research model of personal initiative was tested in a three-study investigation intended to build upon and advance prior work. Specifically, the model indicates that climate for initiative interacts with the social astuteness dimension of political skill (i.e., opportunity recognition) to influence the demonstration of personal initiative, and this first part of the model is tested and supported in Study 1. Then, personal initiative is hypothesized to interact with the interpersonal influence dimension of political skill (i.e., opportunity capitalization) to predict supervisor assessments of job performance, and this part of the model is tested and supported in Study 2. Study 3 provided a test of the entire model and demonstrated support for moderated mediation, thus adding increased confidence in the validity of the theory and findings through constructive replication.

Leader Advancement Motive, Political Skill, Leader Behavior, and Effectiveness: A Moderated Mediation Extension of Socioanalytic Theory

We examine socioanalytic theory from a leadership perspective and extend this research to examine the mediating mechanisms through which leader getting ahead motive and social competence influence leader effectiveness outcomes. A first-stage moderated mediation model was tested and supported, positioning the Leader Motive to Get Ahead × Political Skill interaction as influencing perceived institutional effectiveness and follower satisfaction with one’s leader through leader initiating structure behavior. This research both supports the relevance of socioanalytic theory for predicting leadership outcomes and extends socioanalytic theory to examine a mediating mechanism through which the interaction of the leader getting ahead motive and social competencies affects relevant performance outcomes. Contributions, strengths and limitations, directions for future research, and practical implications are discussed.

Leader Behaviors as Mediators of the Leader Characteristics: Follower Satisfaction Relationship

This study examined two potential mediators through which leaders transmit their position power into an effectiveness outcome. Drawing upon recent work integrating trait, situational, and behavioral theories of leadership effectiveness, we hypothesized and tested a model specifying that the interactive effects of leader position power and leader political skill on follower satisfaction would be mediated by followers’ perceptions of leaders’ initiating structure and consideration behaviors. Specifically, this model indicates that leaders who are both in powerful positions and politically skilled are perceived to initiate more structure and demonstrate more consideration for their followers than their nonpolitically skilled counterparts, which, in turn, positively impacts followers’ satisfaction (i.e., an indication of subjective leadership effectiveness). Utilizing 190 leaders and 476 followers, we found support for the hypothesized model. Contributions to various literatures, strengths, limitations, and practical implications are discussed.

The Role of Interpersonal Influence in Counterbalancing Psychopathic Personality Trait Facets at Work

The purpose of this study was to examine the relations of two facets of psychopathic personality (i.e., self-centered impulsivity and fearless dominance) with interpersonally directed counterproductive work behavior (CWB-I) and contextual performance (CP). Consistent with research on psychopathy, our hypothesis suggested that self-centered impulsivity (i.e., behavioral impulsivity characterized by disregard for rules and responsibilities) would be positively related to CWB-I and negatively related to CP. Using socioanalytic theory, we further suggested that fearless dominance (i.e., an egotistical personal style characterized by self-promotion and prioritization of one’s own needs before those of others) would be negatively associated with interpersonal performance (i.e., high CWB-I and low CP) only when individuals indicated low levels of interpersonal influence (i.e., a dimension of political skill reflecting an ability to adapt one’s behavior in subtle, sophisticated, and situationally effective ways). Results provided strong support for the differential relations of the psychopathic personality dimensions with the criteria of interest. Implications for theory, practice, and future research are provided in light of a number of notable strengths and limitations.

Leader inquisitiveness, political skill, and follower attributions of leader charisma and effectiveness: Test of a moderated mediation model.

Given the variability in personalitys relationship with leadership and the use of personality measures in leader selection and assessment, we examine the joint influence of leader trait inquisitiveness and leader political skill on subordinate perceptions of leader charisma and effectiveness. Findings indicate a positive main effect of political skill on charisma, the positive relationship between inquisitiveness and charisma is moderated by heightened political skill, and charisma mediates the relationship between the inquisitiveness by political skill interaction and perceived effectiveness. The moderated mediation results of our study suggest that organizations should not only select creative and imaginative leaders, but also select those who are politically skilled or provide political skill training.

Refining the Openness-Performance Relationship: Construct Specificity, Contextualization, Social Skill, and the Combination of Trait Self- and Other-Ratings.

abstract Scholars have raised concerns that openness to experience has ambiguous relationships with performance. In this study, we examine both openness and one of its more narrow dimensions, learning approach. In addition, the research context was made narrow (i.e., higher education academic performance in science), and social skill was interactively combined with peer- and self-rated personality in the prediction of academic performance (i.e., grades). We found that those high on learning approach, but not openness, 1 year later performed better academically than those lower on learning approach. Furthermore, for those high and average on social skill, increased peer-rated learning approach was associated with higher performance. Finally, the combination of self- and other-ratings of learning approach was a better predictor of academic performance than the combination of self- and other-ratings of openness. The relationship of openness with academic performance benefits from narrowing predictors and criteria, framing the study within a relevant context, accounting for social skill, and combining self- and other trait ratings.

Political skill, leadership and performance: the role of vision identification and articulation

While previous research has found that transformational and transactional leader ship b havior mediate the leader political skill ─ leader effectiveness relationship (Blickle et al., 2013; Ewen, Wihler, Blickle, Oerder, Ellen, Douglas, & Ferris, 2013; Ewen, Wihler, Frieder , Blickle, Hogan, & Ferris, 2014), the purpose of this study is to specify which facet(s) of transfor mati nal leadership play(s) the most important role in this mediated relationship. Base d on a political lens of leadership processes (Ammeter, Douglas, Gardner, Hochwarter & Ferri s, 2004) and the social/political influence theory of organizations (Ferris, Treadway, P errewé, Brouer, Douglas, & Lux, 2007), we argue that politically skilled leaders should be more effective as a result of their superior abilities to identify and articulate visions. Moreover, we also e xamine the moderating effect of leaders’ positional power as a leader characteri sti capable of reinforcing politically skilled leaders’ use of vision identification and articulation behavior s. Consistent with argumentation that politically skilled leaders can more effectively use vision articulation to strategically direct, unify, and mobilize followers, results indicated that l eaders who were both politically skilled and positionally powerful were perceived by followers t o engage in greater amounts of vision identification and articulation behaviors, and these behaviors, in turn, predicted leader effectiveness. As such, this study builds on the small body of re search that links leader political skill to leader effectiveness through leader behavior and draw s on insight from previous research regarding the interactive effects of multiple sources of leader power. We discuss how this study contributes to the existing literature with an eye tow ards the future of leadership and politics research.

Political Skill and Manager Performance: Exponential and Asymptotic Relationships Due to Differing Levels of Enterprising Job Demands:

Political skill, a social competence that enables individuals to achieve goals due to their understanding of and influence upon others at work, can play an important role in manager performance. We argue that the political skill–manager performance relationship varies as a nonlinear function of differing levels of enterprising job demands (i.e., working with and through people). A large number of occupations have some enterprising features, but, across occupations, management roles typically contain even greater enterprising expectations. However, relatively few studies have examined the enterprising work context (e.g., enterprising demands) of managers. Specifically, under conditions of high enterprising job demands, we argue and find that, as political skill increases, there is an associated exponential increase in enterprising performance, with growth beyond the mean of political skill resulting in outsized performance gains. Whereas, under conditions of low (relative to other managers) enterprising job demands, political skill will have an asymptotic relationship with enterprising job performance, such that the positive relationship becomes weaker as political skill grows, with increases on political skill beyond the mean resulting in minimal performance improvements. Our hypotheses are generally supported, and these findings have important implications for managers, as the performance gains in managerial roles were shown to be a joint function of manager political skill and enterprising job demands.