The moderating role of subordinate political skill on supervisors' impressions of subordinate ingratiation and ratings of subordinate interpersonal facilitation.

Abstract

Nearly 2 decades ago, social influence theorists called for a new stream of research that would investigate why and how influence tactics are effective. The present study proposed that political skill affects the style of execution of influence attempts. It utilized balance theory to explain the moderating effect of employee political skill on the relationships between self- and supervisor-reported ingratiation. Additionally, supervisor reports of subordinate ingratiation were hypothesized to be negatively related to supervisor ratings of subordinate interpersonal facilitation. Results from a combined sample of 2 retail service organizations provided evidence that subordinates with high political skill were less likely than those low in political skill to have their demonstrated ingratiation behavior perceived by targets as a manipulative influence attempt. Also, when subordinates were perceived by their supervisors to engage in more ingratiation behavior, the subordinates were rated lower on interpersonal facilitation. Implications of these findings, limitations, and future research directions are provided.

Effect of ingratiation on supervisor satisfaction through helping behavior: A moderated mediation model

“…The nature of industry and the cultural context may affect the results therefore this study must be replicated in other sectors and other countries as well. Fourth, this study has been limited to the supervisor satisfaction while other researchers have investigated the impact of ingratiation on various employee outcomes (Gordon, 1996;Higgins et al, 2003;Judge & Bretz, 1994;Liden & Mitchell, 1988;Orpen, 1996;Westphal, 1998;Westphal & Stern, 2006, 2007Treadway et al, 2007). Future studies can replace supervisor satisfaction with some employee-desired outcomes.…”

“…Balance Theory describes that balance occurs when the sentiments of supervisor towards employee ingratiation are favorable yet achieving balance is difficult in organizational settings due to hierarchical distribution of power (Treadway et al, 2007). Additionally, supervisor may also interpret ingratiation as an employee's self-serving motive.…”

“…Supervisor's satisfaction with employee refers to supervisor's perception of how well an employee performs his or her job, and what image he or she has in doing that job (Rich, 2008). The literature on supervisor's satisfaction with employee Duke, Adams and Thatcher (2007) reported that ingratiation facilitates employees in achieving personal as well as career goals. However, they found that supervisors rated lower those subordinated who were highly engaged in ingratiation behavior.…”

The Study of Reliability and Validity of the Political Skill Inventory in Educational Organizations

“…In recent years, the number of empirical studies on political skill has been increased (Ahearn et al, 2004;Cingöz, 2013;Treadway, Ferris, Duke, Adams & Thatcher, 2007). On the other hand, it is realized that the number of studies on political skill in educational organizations is limited (Taliadorou & Pashiardis, 2012).…”

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly: Politics and Politicians at Work

“…However, this will depend on the extent to which the political activity serves an individual"s interests, and whether the individual concerned has the power, motivation and skill to act politically for their own interests or those of other organizational stakeholders. Clearly many interesting questions remain to be explored, as do the considerable practical implications of political skill for issues such as fair and accurate performance assessment (Treadway, Ferris, Duke, Adams & Thatcher, 2007). election is not unique to politicians: in the US alone over one million offices, from the local school board to the presidency are filled by election.…”