Job Related Outcomes in Relation to Perceived Organizational Politics

• Author: SHAZIA KHALID and SADIA ISHAQ

Abstract

The present research was designed to study the association of perceived organizational politics with job related outcomes including organizational commitment, job satisfaction and turnover intentions through correlational research design. For this purpose, 353 university teachers were selected. Scales for data collection were used with the permission of authors. For measuring Perceived Organizational Politics, Perception of Organizational Politics Scale by Kacmar and Carlson (1997) was used; Organizational Commitment Questionnaire by Mowday et al. (1979) was used to measure organizational commitment; Job Satisfaction and Turnover Intentions were measured with Generic Job Satisfaction Scale by Macdonald and Maclntyre (1997) and The Turnover Intention Scale by Cammann et al. (1979) respectively. For this purpose, a hypothetical model was constructed and tested.

Results of the research revealed that perceived organizational politics predicted turnover intentions positively but negatively predicted job satisfaction and organizational commitment. Further it is also revealed that among all variables organizational commitment has greater impact on turnover intentions. Results of the study were discussed in context of their implications and their theoretical worth. These findings of this research will be useful for the administration to make future strategies and to increase the productivity of the employees. Increase in the productivity of the employees will be beneficial for the progress of the institution.

Keywords: Perceived organizational politics, Job satisfaction, Organizational commitment, Turnover intentions

1. INTRODUCTION

   Political tactics are widely used in every organization. These political tactics can greatly affect employee's performance at work. Mintzberg (1985) explains that organizational politics is the behaviour which is something more than accepted organizational behaviour. Employees' perceptions about the political nature of their work environment could affect their work. Ferris and Kacmar (1992) developed and evaluated the psychometric properties of the Perceptions of Politics Scale. Kacmar and Carlson (1997) have developed perceived organizational politics scale and validated perceptions of organizational politics scale although political behaviour in organizations is present in the organizations but it is really difficult to identify. Nye and Witt (1993) studied the dimensionality of perceived organizational politics scale and its construct validity by comparing it with other scales. Most of the work done on organizational politics is grounded on the extensive work of Ferris et al. (1989).

   They have presented a model which is mostly used in research work. It described perceived organizational politics in detail and its job related outcomes.

   Many studies have been done by Kacmar and Baron (1999) which indicate significant association between negative job related outcomes and perceptions of organizational politics. Negative job related outcomes include anxiety, stress, absenteeism and turnover intentions and lower level of organizational commitment, job performance, job satisfaction and organizational citizenship. As a result these outcomes can affect the whole organizational performance. On the basis of this developed model, Ferris et al. (1989) have developed perceptions of organizational politics scale which is a very useful tool for the measurement of organizational politics and is largely used in most of the researches.

   Perceived organizational politics has many job related outcomes. Campbell (1990) defines that job related outcomes are factors that affect the employee's job performance. It affects employee's behaviours and actions as well. Among other important outcomes, job satisfaction, organizational commitment and turnover intentions are selected for the present research.

   Job satisfaction is an expression which is considered as positive. This expression can be negative; many factors contribute to tend this positive attitude into negative. If the employees are getting their desired social status and economic benefits from job and their expectations about their job are fulfilled, they are hopeful about their job, they will be satisfied (Locke, 1976).

   Organizational commitment is the psychological connection of the employee with his organization. This shows the extent to which the person thinks about relationship with the organization, and bounds his goals to the benefits of the organization for which he/she is working (O'Reilly and Chatman, 1986).

   Turnover intentions are the intentions that lead the employee to quit from the organization. For the present research, turnover intention is used instead of quitting because intentions lead to actual quitting (Ajzen, 1991).

   When organizational performance or employee's performance is studied political acts are important which should not be ignored because these have their own place and importance as these can affect employee's behaviour and attitude. Lower level of organizational politics is associated with higher level of feedback and it increases the self-confidence of employees (Rosen et al., 2006). Employee's frequent involvement in political activities and high political environment tend to increase absenteeism among employees (Harrell et al., 1996).

   Organizational politics affects the employee's performance at work. Gbadamosi and Chinaka (2011) examined the effect of organizational politics, turnover intention and organizational commitment on employees' effectiveness and efficiency in academia. Sample of the research was comprised of 200 randomly selected employees of Babcock University. The age range of the respondents was between 25 and 53 years. For that research ex post facto research design was used. Three instruments, Perceptions of Organizational Politics Scale, Organizational Commitment Scale, and Turnover Intention Scale, were used. Job performance was measured through respondents' annual performance evaluation report. The results of the study revealed high correlations between organizational politics and turnover intention, work efficiency and organizational commitment. All of these factors are very important for the organizational success.

   Perceived organizational politics affects behaviours of employees in negative ways. Sowmya and Panchanatham (2011) studied the behavioural effects of politics among banking sector employees. It was identified that organizational politics affects employees negatively as it could affect turnover intention and negligent behaviour, and these were due to influence of various other variables including job attitude and job involvement on organizational politics.

   Leadership style is also an important factor which could be associated with organizational politics. Ram and Prabhakar (2010) found an association between perception of organizational politics and leadership styles. In this study, they also identified that perception of organizational politics is negatively related with turnover intentions, job satisfaction, job involvement and job stress. It was demonstrated by job stress and perceptions of organizational politics that transactional leadership has an effect on work related outcomes. Results of the study explained very poor effect of perception of organizational politics on job satisfaction and job involvement and have a...