Wayne A. Hochwarter

Development and Validation of the Political Skill Inventory

The present research was developed to examine the conceptualization and measurement of the political skill construct and to provide validation evidence for the Political Skill Inventory (PSI). The results of three investigations, involving seven samples, are reported that demonstrate consistency of the factor structure across studies, construct validity, and criterion-related validity of the PSI. As hypothesized, political skill was positively related to self-monitoring, political savvy, and emotional intelligence; negatively related to trait anxiety; and not correlated with general mental ability. Also, the PSI predicted performance ratings of managers in two samples. Implications of these findings and directions for future research are provided.

Leader Political Skill and Team Performance

The present study investigates the impact of the political skill of leaders on team performance. More specifically, this study examined the role of leader political skill in the performance of casework teams in a large state child welfare system. Team performance was operationalized as “permanency rate,” or the successful placement of children into legally final living arrangements (i.e., adoption, successor guardianship, or return to natural parents). After controlling for several contextually important factors (i.e., average caseload, average age of children served, average number of team placements, team member experience, leader experience, and team empowerment), leader political skill was found to explain a significant proportion of variance in team performance scores. Implications of these results, as well as directions for future research, are discussed.

Human Resources Management: Some New Directions

The theory, research, and practice of Human Resource Management (HRM) has evolved considerably over the past century, and experienced a major transformation in form and function primarily within the past two decades. Driven by a number of significant internal and external environmental forces, HRM has progressed from a largely maintenance function, with little if any bottom line impact, to what many scholars and practitioners today regard as the source of sustained competitive advantage for organizations operating in a global economy. In this 25th anniversary Yearly Review issue, we conduct a less comprehensive and more focused review of the field of HRM. In doing so, we attempt to articulate some key concepts and issues that can be productively integrated with HRM to provide some interesting and important directions for future work, and consider ways to bridge the gap between the science and practice of HRM.

Interaction of social skill and general mental ability on job performance and salary.

Job and organizational changes have promoted the importance of social skill at work, yet research in this area has been limited. The authors investigated the interaction between social skill and general mental ability (GMA) in the explanation of job performance and salary, controlling for personality and demographic characteristics. The results indicated that the relationships between social skill and job performance were stronger among workers high than low in GMA. In a similar manner. the relationships between GMA and job performance were stronger among workers high than low in social skill. The interaction on salary indicated that increases in social skill (or GMA) for high-GMA (or social skill) individuals were associated with higher salary levels. It is interesting, however, that increases in social skill (or GMA) for those low in GMA (or social skill) contributed to lower salaries. Implications of these results and directions for future research are discussed.

Perceptions of organizational politics: Theory and research directions.

Organizational politics has intrigued academicians and practitioners for decades. Yet, serious scholarship on politics in organizations has emerged as a viable body of scientific inquiry just within the past twenty years. In general, theory and research on organizational politics has been sorted into the two categories of political behavior and its effects, and the nature of organizational politics perceptions. With few exceptions, these areas of inquiry have been treated as largely independent of one another. Whereas it is useful periodically to take stock of the current status of our knowledge base in particular areas of inquiry, we are often remiss in not engaging in such activity frequently enough. The present paper seeks to address this void by determining the status of theory and research on perceptions of organizational politics. First, we report on a comprehensive review of the literature designed to convey the current state of the field with respect to theory development, testing, and validation, as well as methodological considerations, including levels of analysis issues. Then, we propose future challenges with respect to construct expansion and validation, theory refinement, multi-level considerations, and integration with other constructs in the organizational sciences. Other issues that need to be addressed in future work are also examined in an effort to propose a revised model of politics perceptions to guide future research.

Perceived organizational support as a mediator of the relationship between politics perceptions and work outcomes

Abstract The present study investigates the mediating potential of perceived organizational support (POS) on politics perceptions–work outcomes relationships. Consistent with previous research, individuals were able to discriminate political activity at more than one level (i.e., at the highest level in the organization, one level up from one’s current level, and at one’s current level). Further, politics perceived at one level up from one’s current level and politics at the highest levels in the organization were negatively related to perceived organizational support. In addition, POS was related to job satisfaction, performance, affective commitment and job-induced tension providing support for mediation. Implications of these findings, strengths and limitations, and potential avenues for future research are provided.

The interaction of social skill and organizational support on job performance.

The present study examined the moderating effect of perceived organizational support (POS) on the relationship between social skill and supervisor-rated job performance. On the basis of regulatory and activation models of behavior, the authors argue that low-POS environments activate social skill because they reflect situations in which interpersonal acuity is required to demonstrate effective job performance. Accordingly, the authors hypothesize that social skill is more strongly related to performance among workers reporting low rather than high levels of organizational support. Results of hierarchical moderated multiple regression analyses on data gathered from 2 samples support the hypothesis. These results suggest that the relevance of social skill to job performance may be dependent on contextual cues. Implications for substantive research, strengths and limitations, and directions for future research are offered.

Social influence processes in organizations and human resources systems

Social influence processes in organizations involve the demonstration of particular behavioral tactics and strategies by individuals to influence behavioral outcomes controlled by others in ways that maximize influencer positive outcomes and minimize negative outcomes. Such processes necessarily draw from research in topic areas labeled impression management, self-presentation, interpersonal influence, and organizational politics. However, few efforts have been made to integrate this work for purposes of assessing our current knowledge base, and identifying gaps and thus areas in need of further investigation. The present paper provides a critical analysis and review of theory and research on social influence processes in the workplace, with particular emphasis on human resources systems, organized according to the What, the Where, the Who, and the How of influence. In the process, we identify neglected areas, including theory-building challenges, as well as key issues in need of empirical investigation.

Political skill: an antidote in the role overload-strain relationship.

Political skill is characterized by social perceptiveness and the ability to adjust ones behavior to different and changing situational needs to influence others. The authors argue that politically skilled individuals enjoy a sense of personal security that allows them to perceive interpersonal control over the process and outcomes of interpersonal interactions within organizations. The authors examine the buffering effects of political skill on the perceived role overload-strain relationship, with strain operationalized as job tension, job (dis)satisfaction, and general anxiety. Results support the hypothesized moderating effects of political skill such that greater political skill reduces the negative effects of role overload on all types of strain. The contributions and limitations of the study are discussed, as are directions for future research.

Self-Efficacy and Political Skill as Comparative Predictors of Task and Contextual Performance: A Two-Study Constructive Replication

Task and contextual performance are distinct and critical components of job performance. However, empirical studies of antecedents have tended to focus on one or the other type of performance, but not both. Furthermore, sound theoretical rationale has not always been provided for the prediction of different dimensions of job performance. Two studies were conducted to address these issues. In Study 1, as hypothesized, we found self-efficacy to be more strongly related to task than to contextual performance, and political skill to be more strongly related to contextual than to task performance. In addition, and as expected, results indicated self-efficacy to be a better predictor of task performance than political skill, and political skill to be a better predictor of contextual performance than self-efficacy. These results were constructively replicated (Lykken, 1968) in Study 2, thus providing strong support for the validity of the hypothesized and obtained empirical results. Implications of these results and limitations of the research are discussed, as are suggestions for future work.