Honesty-Humility and Perceptions of Organizational Politics in Predicting Workplace Outcomes

• Published in: Journal of business and psychology Vol. 29; no. 2; pp. 235 - 251
• Main Authors: Wiltshire, Jocelyn, Bourdage, Joshua S., Lee, Kibeom
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Boston Springer 01-06-2014; Springer US; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Applied psychology; Behavior; Behavioral Science and Psychology; Business and Management; Community and Environmental Psychology; Corporate culture; Editorial Notes; Employees; Honesty; Hypotheses; Industrial and Organizational Psychology; Investigations; Job satisfaction; Job stress; Manager behavior; Occupational stress; Organizational behavior; Outcome variables; Perceptions; Perceptual organization; Personality; Personality and Social Psychology; Personality traits; Political psychology; Politics; Psychology; Social Sciences; Studies; Work environment; Workplaces; United States > US; Honesty-Humility; Counterproductive work behavior; Impression management; Perceptions of organizational politics
• ISSN: 0889-3268; 1573-353X
• DOI: 10.1007/s10869-013-9310-0

Purpose The present study sought to examine whether a personality dimension named Honesty-Humility influences the relationship between employees' perceptions of organizational politics (POP) and workplace outcomes, both attitudinal and behavioral. Design/Methodology/Approach Data were collected online and cross-nationally from 268 full-time employees from various organizations and occupational backgrounds. Findings Results indicate that the adverse effect of POP in the workplace is exacerbated for employees who are lower (rather than higher) in Honesty-Humility. Specifically, when perceiving their workplace as political, low Honesty-Humility individuals were more likely to engage in counterproductive work behavior and impression management behavior and to experience greater job stress and decreased job satisfaction. Implications Examining the role of individual differences in POP helps to advance our understanding of the mechanisms that employees use to interpret and react within a perceived politically charged workplace. This study provides further evidence of the deleterious effects of POP in the workplace, especially among low Honesty-Humility individuals. Practical implications of this research focus on reducing the likelihood of hiring low Honesty-Humility individuals as well as on reducing the opportunity for undesirable behaviors among currently employed individuals. Originality/Value There is a paucity of research exploring the possibility that individuals may react differently from one another to POP within their workplace and, in turn, experience varying outcomes. The present study helps to fill this gap in the literature by providing novel insights as to the role of personality in predicting perceptions of, and reactions to, organizational politics.