Organizational politics long has been considered a negative phenomenon, but scholars have noted it is an unavoidable part of organizational life. As such, much research has been devoted to exploring its nature, as well as its antecedents and consequences. Recently, research has investigated how political skill and political will are necessary for success in organizations, especially for leaders. Further, scholars have argued that politics is an inherently neutral concept, and have called for balance in research on the topic. As a result, a base of literature has begun to grow regarding the positive possibilities of organizational politics, including the potential benefits followers may reap from leaders' political support. However, empirical research on leader political support is lacking. Thus, the purpose of this two-study dissertation was to develop a psychometrically sound measure of leader political support, and test a model of its antecedents and consequences. In Study 1, three data samples were used to refine the initial measure of leader political support. The final 8-item measure appropriately covers the content domain, and demonstrated good convergent, discriminant, and nomological validity. In Study 2, a sample of 66 leaders and 268 followers from a single organization was used to test a research model of leader political support. Results were mixed, in that most hypothesized antecedent relationships received support; however, many of the hypothesized consequences, although strong, failed to reach appropriate levels of statistical significance. Supplementary analyses indicated that the mixed results likely is due to a small N at the between level. Overall, the results provide some interesting insight into the leader political support construct, as well as a number of promising directions for future research. / A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Management in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Spring Semester, 2015. / March 27, 2015. / Leader Political Support, Leadership, Organizational Politics / Includes bibliographical references. / Gerald R. Ferris, Professor Directing Dissertation; Jeffery S. Smith, University Representative; Wayne A. Hochwarter, Committee Member; Chad H. Van Iddekinge, Committee Member; M. Ronald Buckley, Committee Member.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:fsu.edu/oai:fsu.digital.flvc.org:fsu_253447 |
| Contributors | Ellen, B. Parker (authoraut), Ferris, Gerald R. (professor directing dissertation), Smith, Jeffery S. (university representative), Hochwarter, Wayne A. (committee member), Van Iddekinge, Chad H. (committee member), Buckley, M. Ronald (committee member), Florida State University (degree granting institution), College of Business (degree granting college), Department of Management (degree granting department) |
| Publisher | Florida State University, Florida State University |
| Source Sets | Florida State University |
| Language | English, English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text, text |
| Format | 1 online resource (139 pages), computer, application/pdf |
| Rights | This Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s). The copyright in theses and dissertations completed at Florida State University is held by the students who author them. |
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