Political behaviors as moderators of the perceptions of organizational politics - work outcomes relationships

This study investigates the complexities involved in the relationships betw een perceptions of politics and work outcomes by examining the effects of p olitical behavior on that relationship. More specifically, we suggest that political behavior may serve as a form of control or as a mechanism for cop ing with highly political organizational environments perceived by individu als to be aversive. As such, we propose moderating roles of self-promotion and ingratiation on the relationships between perceptions of politics and t he work outcomes of satisfaction with job in general, satisfaction with sup ervision, and intent to leave. It was hypothesized that increased exercise of self-promotion and ingratiation behaviors would mitigate the negative ef fects of perceptions of organizational politics on those specific outcomes. Hypotheses were supported for the proposed relationships between self-prom otion and two of the work outcomes: satisfaction with supervision and inten t to leave. Significant effects were also found for ingratiation; however, they were opposite-to those proposed for the perceptions of organizational politics-intent to leave relationship. Implications of results and areas fo r future research are discussed. Copyright (C) 1994 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.