Politics and the Workplace: An Empirical Examination of the Relationship between Political Behavior and Work Outcomes

The goal of this research was to test the relationship between political behavior and work outcomes such as actual performance as measured by a supervisor's evaluation, job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and participation in decisions in the workplace. The respondents in this survey were 200 administrative and medical personnel from one of the major public health organizations in Israel. Supervisors in each of the clinics provided the data on performance of the employees. The findings of regression analysis showed, in general, that political behavior was related to important behavior and attitudes in the work setting. The relationship can be defined as modest but consistent. It is modest because the political behavior variables did not explain a large portion of the variance of the four work outcomes. It is consistent because all work outcomes were related to one or more of the political behavior variables, and this relationship holds beyond the effect of the control variables. The findings also showed that the relationship between political behavior and performance and organizational commitment is stronger for females than for males.