Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

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

  • Published:
Journal of Business and Psychology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

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.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4

Similar content being viewed by others

Notes

  1. We highlight the negative aspects of political behavior in the workplace here to illustrate the link to low Honesty-Humility. However, we should note that some forms of political behaviors could be functional in the organization (see Perrewe et al. 2000).

  2. At the suggestion of the Editor, we also conducted multiple confirmatory factor analyses (CFAs) to determine whether there was significant discriminant validity among the six focal variables (i.e., the four outcome variables, POP, and Honesty-Humility). We tested several models, and the best fit by far was a six-factor model, with each of the six focal variables separated. These analyses further supported the discriminant validity of the focal variables. These CFA results are available upon request.

  3. As noted earlier, the data were collected from 27 different countries. As such, the nested nature of the data created the possibility that observations are more highly correlated within country than between countries. If this were the case, an analytical approach accounting for this nonindependence would be desirable. We calculated intraclass correlation coefficients (ICCs) for each of the four outcome variables, and found that the ICCs for three of the four outcome variables were not significant (.01, .01, and .00 for impression management behavior, satisfaction, and stress, respectively). However, the ICC for counterproductive workplace behaviors was significant (.13). Upon running a random intercepts model in HLM 7.0, the results for analyses involving CWB very closely mirrored those from the regular multiple regression analyses. As such, we proceeded with multiple regression analysis for all four outcome variables.

References

  • Ashton, M. C., & Lee, K. (2007). Empirical, theoretical, and practical advantages of the HEXACO model of personality structure. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 11, 150–166.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Ashton, M. C., & Lee, K. (2008). The HEXACO model of personality structure and the importance of the H factor. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 2, 1952–1962.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ashton, M. C., & Lee, K. (2009). The HEXACO-60: A short measure of the major dimensions of personality. Journal of Personality Assessment, 91, 340–345.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Baron, R. M., & Kenny, D. A. (1986). The moderator–mediator variable distinction in social psychological research: Conceptual, strategic, and statistical considerations. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 51, 1173–1182.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Barrick, M. R., Shaffer, J. A., & DeGrassi, S. W. (2009). What you see may not be what you get: Relationships among self-presentation tactics and ratings of interview and job performance. Journal of Applied Psychology, 94, 1394–1411.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Bennett, R. J., & Robinson, S. L. (2000). Development of a measure of workplace deviance. Journal of Applied Psychology, 85, 349–360.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Berry, M., Ones, D. S., & Sackett, P. R. (2007). Interpersonal deviance, organizational deviance, and their common correlates: A review and meta-analysis. Journal of Applied Psychology, 92, 410–424.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Bolino, M. C., & Turnley, W. H. (1999). Measuring impression management in organizations: A scale development based on the Jones and Pittman Taxonomy. Oganizational Research Methods, 2, 187–206.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brayfield, A. H., & Rothe, H. F. (1951). An index of job satisfaction. Journal of Applied Psychology, 35, 307–311.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brouer, R. L., Harris, K. J., & Kacmar, K. M. (2011). The moderating effects of political skill on the perceived politics–outcome relationships. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 32, 869–885.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chang, C., Rosen, C. C., & Levy, P. E. (2009). The relationship between perceptions of organizational politics and employee attitudes, strain, and behavior: A meta- analytic examination. Academy of Management Journal, 52, 779–801.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chapman, D. S., & Zweig, D. I. (2005). Developing a nomological network for interview structure: Antecedents and consequences of the structured selection interview. Personnel Psychology, 58, 673–702.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chen, Y., & Fang, W. (2008). The moderating effect of impression management on the organizational politics–performance relationship. Journal of Business Ethics, 79, 263–277.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Connor, D. S. (2006). Human-resource professionals’ perceptions of organizational politics as a function of experience, organizational size, and perceived independence. The Journal of Social Psychology, 146, 717–732.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Conway, J. M., & Lance, C. E. (2010). What reviewers should expect from authors regarding common method bias in organizational research. Journal of Business and Psychology, 25, 325–334.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Costa, P. T., Jr., & McCrae, R. R. (1992). Revised NEO Personality Inventory (NEO-PI-R) and NEO Five-Factor Inventory (NEO-FFI) manual. Odessa, FL: Psychological Assessment Resources.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ferris, G. R., Frink, D. D., Galang, M. C., Zhou, J., Kacmar, K. M., & Howard, J. L. (1996). Perceptions of organizational politics: Prediction, stress-related implications, and outcomes. Human Relations, 49, 233–266.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ferris, G. R., Russ, G. S., & Fandt, P. M. (1989). Politics in organizations. In R. A. Giacalone & P. Rosenfeld (Eds.), Impression management in the organization (pp. 143–170). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fox, S., & Spector, P. E. (1999). A model of work frustration-aggression. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 20, 915–931.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gruys, M. L., & Sackett, P. R. (2003). Investigating the dimensionality of counterproductive work behavior. International Journal of Selection and Assessment, 11, 30–42.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hall, A. T., Hochwarter, W. A., Ferris, G. R., & Bowen, M. G. (2004). The dark side of politics in organizations. In R. W. Griffin & A. M. O’Leary-Kelly (Eds.), The dark side of organizational behavior (pp. 237–261). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

    Google Scholar 

  • Harrell-Cook, G., Ferris, G. R., & Dulebohn, J. H. (1999). Political behaviors as moderators of the perceptions of organizational politics–work outcomes relationships. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 20, 1093–1105.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Johnson, R. E., Rosen, C. C., & Djurdjevic, E. (2011). Assessing the impact of common method variance on higher order multidimensional constructs. Journal of Applied Psychology, 96, 744–761.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Judge, T. A., & Klinger, R. (2008). Job satisfaction: Subjective well-being at work. In M. Eid & R. J. Larsen (Eds.), The science of subjective well-being (pp. 393–413). New York: Guilford Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kacmar, K. M., & Baron, R. A. (1999). Organizational politics: The state of the field, links to related processes, and an agenda for future research. In K. M. Rowland & G. R. Ferris (Eds.), Research in personnel and human resources management (Vol. 17, pp. 1–39). Greenwich, CT: JAI Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kacmar, K. M., & Carlson, D. S. (1997). Further validation of the Perceptions of Politics Scale (POPS): A multisample approach. Journal of Management, 23, 627–658.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kacmar, K. M., Collins, B. J., Harris, K. J., & Judge, T. A. (2009). Core self-evaluations and job performance: The role of perceived work environment. Journal of Applied Psychology, 94, 1572–1580.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kacmar, K. M., Harris, K. J., & Nagy, B. G. (2007). Further validation of the Bolino and Turnley impression management scale. Journal of Behavioral and Applied Management, 9(1), 16–32.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lee, K., & Ashton, M. C. (2004). Psychometric properties of the HEXACO personality inventory. Multivariate Behavioral Research, 39, 329–358.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lee, K., & Ashton, M. C. (2006). Further assessment of the HEXACO Personality Inventory: Two new facet scales and an observer report form. Psychological Assessment, 18, 182–191.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Lee, K., Ashton, M. C., Morrison, D. L., Cordery, J., & Dunlop, P. D. (2008). Predicting integrity with the HEXACO personality model: Use of self- and observer reports. Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, 81, 147–167.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Leone, L., Desimoni, M., & Chirumbolo, A. (2012). HEXACO, social worldviews, and socio-political attitudes: A mediation analyses. Personality and Individual Differences, 53, 995–1001.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Levashina, J., & Campion, M. A. (2007). Measuring faking in the employment interview: Development and validation of an interview faking behavior scale. Journal of Applied Psychology, 92, 1638–1656.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Locke, E. A. (1976). The nature and causes of job satisfaction. In M. D. Dunnette (Ed.), Handbook of industrial and organizational psychology (pp. 1297–1342). Chicago: Rand McNally.

    Google Scholar 

  • Marks, G., & Miller, N. (1987). Ten years of research on the false-consensus effect: An empirical and theoretical review. Psychological Bulletin, 102, 72–90.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Matteson, M. T., & Ivancevich, J. M. (1987). Controlling work stress: Effective human resource and management strategies. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publishers.

    Google Scholar 

  • McCrae, R. R., Kurtz, J. E., Yamagata, S., & Terracciano, A. (2011). Internal consistency, retest reliability, and their implications for personality scale validity. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 15, 28–50.

    Article  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Miller, B. K., Rutherford, M. A., & Kolodinsky, R. W. (2008). Perceptions of organizational politics: A meta-analysis of outcomes. Journal of Business and Psychology, 22, 209–222.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Motowidlo, S. J., Packard, J. S., & Manning, M. R. (1986). Occupational stress: Its causes and consequences for job performance. Journal of Applied Psychology, 71, 618–629.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Nelson, D. L., & Burke, R. J. (2000). Women executives: Health, stress, and success. Academy of Management Executive, 14, 107–127.

    Google Scholar 

  • Peeters, H., & Lievens, F. (2006). Verbal and nonverbal impression management tactics in behavior description and situational interviews. International Journal of Selection and Assessment, 14, 206–222.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Peeters, M. A., Rutte, C. G., van Tuijil, H. F., & Reymen, I. M. (2006). The big five personality traits and individual satisfaction with the team. Small Group Research, 37, 187–211.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Perrewe, P. L., Ferris, G. R., Frink, D. W., & Anthony, W. P. (2000). Political skill: An antidote for workplace stressors. Academy of Management Perspectives, 14, 115–123.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Podsakoff, P. M., MacKenzie, S. B., Lee, J.-Y., & Podsakoff, N. P. (2003). Common method biases in behavioral research: A critical review of the literature and recommended remedies. Journal of Applied Psychology, 88, 879–903.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Poon, J. M. L. (2003). Situational antecedents and outcomes of organizational politics perceptions. Journal of Managerial Psychology, 18, 138–155.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rosen, C. C., Levy, P. E., & Hall, R. J. (2006). Placing perceptions of politics in the context of the feedback environment, employee attitudes, and job performance. Journal of Applied Psychology, 91, 211–220.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Schmitt, N. (1996). Uses and abuses of coefficient alpha. Psychological Assessment, 8, 350–353.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schneider, T. J., & Goffin, R. D. (2012). Perceived ability to deceive and incremental prediction in pre-employment personality testing. Personality and Individual Differences, 52, 806–811.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Siemsen, E., Roth, A., & Oliveira, P. (2010). Common method bias in regression models with linear, quadratic, and interaction effects. Organizational Research Methods, 13, 456–476.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Skarlicki, D. P., & Latham, G. P. (1997). Leadership training in organizational justice to increase citizenship behavior within a labor union: A replication. Personnel Psychology, 50, 617–633.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stevens, C. K., & Kristof, A. L. (1995). Making the right impression: A field study of applicant impression management during job interviews. Journal of Applied Psychology, 80, 587–606.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tett, R. P., & Burnett, D. D. (2003). A personality trait-based interactionist model of job performance. Journal of Applied Psychology, 88, 500–517.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Vroom, V. H. (1964). Work and motivation. Oxford: Wiley.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zettler, I., & Hilbig, B. E. (2010). Honesty-Humility and a person-situation interaction at work. European Journal of Personality, 24, 569–582.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zivnuska, S., Kacmar, K. M., Witt, L. A., Carlson, D. S., & Bratton, V. K. (2004). Interactive effects of impression management and organizational politics on job performance. Journal of Organizational Behaviour, 25, 627–640.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

This research was supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada grant 410-2011-0089.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada

    Jocelyn Wiltshire & Kibeom Lee

  2. Western University, London, ON, Canada

    Joshua S. Bourdage

Authors
  1. Jocelyn Wiltshire
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Joshua S. Bourdage
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Kibeom Lee
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jocelyn Wiltshire.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Wiltshire, J., Bourdage, J.S. & Lee, K. Honesty-Humility and Perceptions of Organizational Politics in Predicting Workplace Outcomes. J Bus Psychol 29, 235–251 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10869-013-9310-0

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10869-013-9310-0

Keywords

Search

Navigation