The Moderating Role of Subordinate Political Skill on Supervisors' Impressions of Subordinate Ingratiation and Ratings of Subordinate Interpersonal Facilitation

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 mod...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of applied psychology 2007-05, Vol.92 (3), p.848-855
Main Authors: Treadway, Darren C, Ferris, Gerald R, Duke, Allison B, Adams, Garry L, Thatcher, Jason B
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Attitude
Behaviourism
Biological and medical sciences
Empirical research
Employee Performance Appraisal
Employment - manpower
Facilitation
Female
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Human
Humans
Impression Management
Impressions
Influence
Ingratiation
Interpersonal Influences
Interpersonal Relations
Male
Occupational psychology
Organization
Organization and management. Professional relation
Organizational behavior
Political aspects
Politics
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychology. Psychophysiology
Retailing industry
Samples
Social Facilitation
Social influence
Social Perception
Social psychology
Social research
Studies
Subordinates
Supervisor Employee Interaction
Supervisor-Subordinate interactions
Supervisors
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Summary: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.
ISSN:0021-9010
1939-1854
DOI:10.1037/0021-9010.92.3.848