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The Role of Political Prudence and Political Skill in the Political Will and Political Behavior Relationship

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Abstract

The corporate scandals of the twenty-first century have necessitated ethical behavior as a major component of the organizational process. These scandals occurred despite the ethical rules and laws in place, implying that rules and laws might not be effective in ensuring the ethical behavior of organizational participants at all times. Hence, a better approach to handling ethical decisions may be virtue ethics which demand the building of ethical character that intrinsically drives ethical behavior. Prudence was studied as a virtue which builds character and can moderate ethical behavior. The moderating role of prudence was studied in the context of organizational political behavior. Employee political behavior in organizations can have either positive or negative consequences; hence, it is in the realm of ethical decision-making. Since studies have not identified how individuals can self-regulate their desire for political behavior, the study proposed political prudence, a character-building virtue, as a self-regulating variable which can be used by individuals to avoid drifting to the dark side of political behavior. The study participants were drawn from three organizations in Lagos, Nigeria, and a cross-sectional research design was adopted for data collection. The results confirmed that political prudence moderated the effects of political will on political behavior such that individuals engaged in benevolent political will and avoided self-serving political will. The importance of the findings is that organizations have a means of steering participants away from the dark side to the bright side of political behavior which is useful for productivity.

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  1. Lagos Business School, Pan Atlantic University, KM 22 Lekki-Epe Expressway, Lekki, Lagos, Nigeria

    Okechukwu Ethelbert Amah

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Appendix

Appendix

QUESTIONNAIRE

Prudence

I make decisions only after gathering information from different sources

I create a budget to manage my money.

I work more for long term satisfaction than for immediate gratification.

I make a decision with complete information.

I act quickly and decisively with much concern for long term consequences.

Swaim (2004).

Political will

Doing good for others sometimes means acting politically.

I would engage in politics to serve the common good.

When I am right, I am willing to act politically.

I would use political tactics to improve my working conditions.

Engaging in politics is an attractive means to achieve my personal objectives.

I would employ political tactics to be in my boss’ in-group.

Prevailing in the political arena at work would prove my competence.

I would engage in politics to preserve my self-esteem.

Kapoutsis et al. (2017).

Political behavior

I spent time at work politicking.

I use my interpersonal skills to influence people at work.

I let others at work know of my accomplishments.

I work behind the scenes to see that my group is taken care of.

Active politicking is an important part of my job.

I use politicking at work as a way to ensure that things get done.

Treadway et al. (2005).

Political skill

I spend a lot of time and effort at work networking with others.

At work, I know a lot of important people and I am well connected.

I am able to make most people feel comfortable and at ease around me.

It is easy for me to develop good rapport with most people.

When communicating with others, I try to be genuine in what I say and do.

It is important that people believe I am sincere in what I say and do.

I have good intuition or savvy about how to present myself to others.

I always seem to instinctively know the right things to say or do to influence others.

Ferris et al. (2005).

Perception of organizational politics

People in this organization attempt to build themselves up by tearing others down.

There has always been an influential group in this department that no one ever crosses.

There is no place for yes-men around here; good ideas are desired even if it means disagreeing with superiors.

Agreeing with powerful others is the best alternative in this organization.

Rewards such as pay raises and promotions do not go to those who work hard.

The stated pay and promotion policies have nothing to do with how pay raises and promotions are determined.

Kacmar and Carlson (1997).

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Amah, O.E. The Role of Political Prudence and Political Skill in the Political Will and Political Behavior Relationship. J Bus Ethics 176, 341–355 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-020-04696-x

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