Perceived Political Climate and Job Attitudes

The present study examines the relationships between perceived Organizational Politics (OP) and job attitudes. Questionnaires containing scales of perceived OP climate and job attitudes were administered to a sample of 200 employees in several organizations. It was found that variables reflecting on the employee's status in the organization such as Gender and Supervisory Position moderate the relationships between perceptions of organizational politics and job attitudes. The association between climate and negative job attitudes was stronger for employees of lower status than for those of a higher status. It was speculated that organizational politics has a potentially damaging effect on lower status employees, who react to a climate of politics by showing increasingly negative attitudes towards the organization.