Is Organizational Politics Destructive for Favorable Employee Outcomes? An Appraisal Using the Lens Of Organizational Identification

Abstract

The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship of employees’ perceptions of organizational politics with various employee outcomes (turnover intentions, employee engagement, job satisfaction and counterproductive work behaviors). Further, this study also hypothesized that employees’ organizational identification mediates the direct relationship between perceived organizational politics (POP) and employee outcomes. For the purpose of this study, data were collected from 678 faculty members working in the higher education institutes (HEIs) operating in Pakistan through self-administered questionnaire. Descriptive statistics, reliability analysis, correlation and regression analysis were applied for data analysis. Results revealed that POP was negatively related with job satisfaction, employee engagement and organizational identification whereas it was positively related with employee turnover intentions and counterproductive work behaviors. Further, organizational identification partially mediated all the four direct relationships between POP and employee outcomes. Results and implications of the study are discussed in the end.