Perceptions of Organizational Politics and Employee Performance: A Perspective of Ego Depletion Theory

Abstract

Abstract:

Previous researches mainly draw upon social exchange theory and job stress to explain mediating mechanisms in perceptions of organizational politics (POP) literature, with little attention to exploring how POP influences its outcomes via ego depletion. Therefore, this study examines the mediating role of resource depletion in POP-employee performance linkage from the perspective of ego depletion theory. Furthermore, we test the moderating role of employee political skill in the relationship between POP and resource depletion. We examine our proposed hypotheses with matched data collected from 290 employees and their direct supervisors. The results reveal that resource depletion mediates the relationship between POP and employee task performance and organizational citizenship behavior (OCB). Moreover, the results of moderated mediation analyses show that political skill moderates the mediating effect of resource depletion on the relationship between POP and employee task performance and OCB. This mediating effect is stronger when employee political skill is low than when employee political skill is high.

Key words: perceptions of organizational politics, resource depletion, task performance, organizational citizenship behavior, political skill

Zhang Yajun, Zhang Junwei, Cui Ligang, Liu Shan. Perceptions of Organizational Politics and Employee Performance: A Perspective of Ego Depletion Theory[J]. , 2018, 30(1): 78-88.

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