Political skills and career success of R&D personnel: a comparative mediation analysis between perceived supervisor support and perceived organisational support

A successful design of HRM relies on the identification of a new indicator as it can generate a noble research model to elucidate the unknown mechanisms crucial for strengthening organisational innovation competence. This study proposes and tests a research model that examines the direct influence of political skills on R&D personnel’s career success and comparatively analyses the effect of two mediators: perceived supervisor support (PSS) and perceived organisational support (POS). Based on a survey data of 252 R&D personnel in 60 large firms in Korea, this study shows the significance of political skills for advancing personal careers, confirms the mediation effect of PSS and POS, and suggests a greater impact of POS over PSS. To promote R&D personnel’s career success, the research results highlight the significance of political skills at the individual level and the importance of developmental HRM at the organisational level.