fpsyg-10-01612 July 9, 2019 Time 1738 # 1ORIGINAL RESEAR.docx

fpsyg-10-01612 July 9, 2019 Time: 17:38 # 1
ORIGINAL RESEARCH
published: 10 July 2019
doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2019.01612
Edited by:
Darren C. Treadway,
University at Buffalo, United States
Reviewed by:
Jun Yang,
University of North Carolina
at Greensboro, United States
Dana Unger,
University of East Anglia,
United Kingdom
*Correspondence:
Simon L. Albrecht
[email protected]
Specialty section:
This article was submitted to
Organizational Psychology,
a section of the journal

Frontiers in Psychology
Received: 23 August 2018
Accepted: 26 June 2019
Published: 10 July 2019
Citation:
Landells EM and Albrecht SL
(2019) Perceived Organizational
Politics, Engagement, and Stress:
The Mediating Influence of Meaningful
Work. Front. Psychol. 10:1612.
doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2019.01612
Perceived Organizational Politics,
Engagement, and Stress: The
Mediating Influence of Meaningful
Work
Erin M. Landells and Simon L. Albrecht*
School of Psychology, Deakin University, Melbourne, VIC,
Australia
The research aimed to assess proposed associations between
organizational politics
and employee engagement, employee stress (or more correctly
‘strain’), and work
meaningfulness. Very few studies have examined these
associations. Confirmatory
factor analyses established the dimensionality and reliability of
the full measurement
model across two independent samples (N = 303, N = 373).
Structural equation

modeling supported the proposed direct associations between
organizational politics,
operationalized as a higher order construct, and employee stress
and employee
engagement. These relationships were shown to be partially
mediated by meaningful
work. As such, politics had significant indirect effects on
engagement and stress through
meaningful work. The results also showed a significant and
direct association between
stress and engagement. Overall, the results shed important new
light on the factors that
influence engagement, and identify work meaningfulness as an
important psychological
mechanism that can help explain the adverse impact of
organizational politics on
employee engagement and stress. The results also support the
dimensionality and
validity of a new set of measures of perceived organizational
politics focused on
generalized perceptions about the use and abuse of
relationships, resources, reputation,
decisions, and communication channels. More generally, the
results serve as a platform
for further research regarding the negative influence of
organizational politics on a range
of individual and organizational outcomes.
Keywords: organizational politics, work engagement, stress,
meaningful work, measures
INTRODUCTION
The detrimental, damaging, and negative effects of
organizational politics on outcomes such as
stress, burnout, turnover intentions, job satisfaction, and

organizational commitment have been
well-established with theory and research (Hochwarter et al.,
2003; Miller et al., 2008; Chang et al.,
2009; Vigoda-Gadot and Talmud, 2010). However, only a
limited amount of research has examined
the effect of organizational politics on employee engagement, a
construct increasingly recognized
as important to organizational success and competitive
advantage (Macey and Schneider, 2008;
Albrecht et al., 2015; Barrick et al., 2015). The present research
extends previous research by
examining the associations between organizational politics and
employee engagement, in addition
to associations between organizational politics and stress. The
current study also extends past
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fpsyg-10-01612 July 9, 2019 Time: 17:38 # 2
Landells and Albrecht Politics, Engagement, Stress, Meaningful
Work
research by assessing these relationships with a newly
developed, theory-based, five-dimensional measure of perceived
organizational politics. Additionally, and consistent with
engagement theory (Kahn, 1990), Job Characteristics theory
(Hackman and Oldham, 1976), Job Demands-Resources theory
(Bakker and Demerouti, 2014) and relatively recent empirical
studies (e.g., Ferris and Treadway, 2012; Rosen et al., 2014;
Landells and Albrecht, 2017), the research also examines the
potentially important mediating role of work meaningfulness on
the proposed associations (Ferris and Treadway, 2012; Rosen
et al., 2014; Landells and Albrecht, 2017). The largely untested
association between employee stress or ‘strain’ and engagement
is also examined (see Figure 1).
Definitions and Measures of
Organizational Politics
Organizational politics has traditionally been defined as
behavior
that is “self-serving, contradictory to organizational objectives,
and premeditated to cause individuals, groups or entities
harm” (Hochwarter and Thompson, 2010, p. 1372). Kacmar
and Baron (1999) similarly argued that organizational politics
“involves actions by individuals that are directed toward the
goal of furthering their own self-interests without regard
for the well-being of others or their organization” (p. 4).
Landells and Albrecht (2016), based on their qualitative
research
(Landells and Albrecht, 2015), proposed five dimensions of
organizational politics that could encompass both positive and
negative perspectives: (1) building and using relationships, (2)
building personal reputation, (3) controlling decisions and

resources, (4) influencing decision-making, and (5) the use of
communication channels. These dimensions both overlap with,
and extend, previously validated measures of organizational
politics (e.g., Kacmar and Ferris, 1991; Drory, 1993; Kacmar
and Carlson, 1997; Fedor and Maslyn, 2002; Hochwarter et al.,
2003; Vigoda-Gadot et al., 2003). Items in the ‘relationships’
and ‘reputation’ dimensions, for example, have items similar
to items in the ‘general political behavior’ and ‘go along to get
ahead’ dimensions of Kacmar and Ferris’s (1991) Perceptions
of Organizational Politics Scale (POPS) and Hochwarter et al.’s
(2003) unidimensional measure. The inclusion of dimensions
focused on ‘controlling decisions and resources,’ ‘influencing
decision-making,’ and ‘the use of communication channels’
extends the scope of existing measures in that neither the
POPS nor the Hochwarter’ and colleagues measures explicitly
focus on influencing decisions or gossip. Consistent with most
existing measures of organizational politics, the Landells and
Albrecht (2016) measure is focused on employee perceptions
of the organizational political climate as opposed to personal
experiences of politics.
Outcomes Associated With
Organizational Politics
Individual Stress
As previously noted, the relationship between perceptions
of organizational politics and stress or strain has been
confirmed through extensive research (Ferris et al., 1996;
Cropanzano et al., 1997; Vigoda, 2002; Treadway et al., 2005b;
Miller et al., 2008; Chang et al., 2009; Bedi and Schat, 2013).
Miller
et al. (2008) meta-analysis, drawing from 24 independent
samples
and approximately 9000 participants, showed a mean corrected
correlation of p = 0.45 between organizational politics and
stress.

Numerous theoretical frameworks such as transactional theory
(Lazarus, 1991), conservation of resources theory (Hobfoll,
1989), effort-reward imbalance theory (Siegrist, 2001),
appraisal
theory (Troup and Dewe, 2002), person-environment fit theory
(Caplan, 1987), and demands-control theory (Karasek, 1979)
have been proposed to explain the relationship. Consistent
with the current focus on the relationship between politics and
engagement, Job Demands-Resources (JD-R) theory (Bakker
and
Demerouti, 2014) has also been invoked to explain that negative
organizational politics can operate as a stressor or a ‘hindrance
demand’ (Cavanaugh et al., 2000) that can lead to stress and
burnout (Albrecht and Landells, 2012). As shown in Figure 1,
the current research extends the JD-R framework to additionally
examine whether organizational politics is negatively associated
with engagement, and whether work meaningfulness partially
mediates the relationship between organizational politics and
engagement, and organizational politics and stress. It is
noteworthy that researchers have cautioned against confusing
the
word stress with ‘stressor’ or ‘strain’ (e.g., Sonnentag and
Frese,
2003). As such, although the authors of the ‘stress’ scale used
in
the study referred to their construct as ‘stress,’ the measure
more
accurately reflects what researchers generally refer to as strain.
Nevertheless, for present purposes, the terms stress and strain
are
occasionally used interchangeably.
Employee Engagement
Employee engagement has emerged as a construct of interest
because it has been shown to be a strong predictor of a range
of attitudinal, behavioral, and organizational outcomes

(Albrecht,
2010; Christian et al., 2011; Carter et al., 2016). Engagement
is often defined as a “positive, fulfilling, work-related state of
mind that is characterized by vigor, dedication and absorption”
(Schaufeli et al., 2002, p. 74).
As previously noted, although it has been argued that
organizational politics can lead to decreased engagement
(Byrne et al., 2017; Landells and Albrecht, 2017), only a few
researchers have empirically examined the relationship (e.g.,
Karatepe, 2013; Kane-Frieder et al., 2014; Eldor, 2016). Job
Demands-Resources theory (JD-R; Bakker and Demerouti,
2007, 2014) provides a potentially useful explanatory
framework
within which to examine the association between organizational
politics and engagement. In brief, JD-R theory suggests that
work engagement, as a motivational construct, mediates
the relationships between job and personal resources (e.g.,
job autonomy, self-efficacy) and positive individual and
organizational outcomes (e.g., individual well-being, job
performance, competitive advantage). Job demands in the JD-R
framework are proposed, via an energy depleting and health
impairment pathway, to adversely impact engagement and to be
associated with negative individual and organizational outcomes
(e.g., depression, absenteeism) through burnout (e.g., Schaufeli,
2013). Consistent with JD-R theory, Crawford et al. (2010)
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FIGURE 1 | Proposed model.
meta-analysis of four samples consisting of 3,042 participants
provided evidence of a significant, yet relatively modest,
negative
association between organizational politics (as a demand) and
engagement (p = −0.25). By way of explaining the association,
it is here proposed that where employees share perceptions that
people are undermining and manipulating others, gossiping,
and abusing authority, employees will be less energized by
and involved with their work. Consequently, Figure 1 shows
organizational politics having a direct negative association with
employee engagement. Figure 1 also shows a direct negative
association between stress and engagement. Although the
association between stressors and engagement has been clearly
established, somewhat surprisingly, there has been limited
research linking the individual experience of stress itself, and
engagement. Consistent with arguments that when employees
experience stress their energy levels are depleted and
engagement
is therefore diminished (Hakanen et al., 2006; Schaufeli et al.,
2009; Byrne et al., 2017), it is here proposed that stress will be
negatively associated with engagement.
Work Meaningfulness
Work meaningfulness refers to employees feeling that the work
they do is worthwhile, useful, and valuable (Kahn, 1990).
Similarly, Albrecht (2015b) defined work meaningfulness as “a
positive work-related psychological state reflecting the extent
to which employees think and feel they make a significant,
important, and useful contribution to a worthwhile purpose in
the execution of their work” (p. 212). Researchers have long

argued that individuals determine the meaning and value of
their work based on cues from their work environment (e.g.,
Hackman and Oldham, 1976; Kahn, 1990; Ferris et al., 2002;
Latham and Pindar, 2005; Rosso et al., 2010; Albrecht, 2013).
Humphrey et al. (2007) meta-analysis of job characteristics
research identified work meaningfulness as the “most critical”
(p. 1341) psychological state and as having a primary influence
on work outcomes such as job satisfaction and subjective
ratings of performance. In addition to the outcomes included
in Humphrey et al. (2007) meta-analysis, meaningfulness has
also been theorized and shown to be associated with
engagement
(Kahn, 1990; May et al., 2004; Albrecht and Su, 2012; Albrecht,
2013; Kahn and Heaphy, 2014; Byrne et al., 2017). May
et al. (2004) showed that meaningfulness had a strong positive
association with engagement.
With respect to the proposed association between
organizational politics and work meaningfulness (see Figure 1),
engagement theory (Kahn, 1990) would suggest that perceptions
of negative organizational politics (including manipulation,
criticism, undermining, disrespect, and disadvantage) can
severely impact employees’ willingness to invest themselves in
their role and their organization. If employees perceive that
their work environment is characterized by gossip,
backstabbing,
misuse of power, and improper use of relationships, employees
may feel the value of their work is unimportant or diminished.
In support of this proposed association, Kiewitz et al. (2002)
reported a significant association between the POPS and
meaningful contribution (r = −0.44; p < 0.05).
Kiewitz et al. (2002) also examined the harmful effects of
negative organizational politics on organizational commitment
but did not however, examine the potential mediating effects

that
derive from job characteristics theory and engagement theory
(Bakker and Demerouti, 2014).
Beyond assessing the direct associations between
organizational politics and stress, and between organizational
politics and engagement, it is important on theoretical grounds
to identify the psychological mediating variables that might
explain the associations. A limited number of researchers have
investigated whether constructs such as psychological needs
satisfaction, stress, psychological safety, and morale mediate
the relationships between organizational politics and outcomes
such as creativity and proactive behavior (Chang et al., 2009;
Rosen and Levy, 2013; Li et al., 2014; Rosen et al., 2014).
Recently, researchers (e.g., Byrne et al., 2017; Landells and
Albrecht, 2017) have theorized that the psychological
conditions
of psychological availability, safety, and meaningfulness
(Kahn, 1990) provide insight into ‘the black box’ explanatory
mechanisms that link perceptions of organizational politics
and engagement. As previously noted, although researchers
have found that the psychological conditions mediate the
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relationships between job resources and engagement, the
propositions that work meaningfulness mediates the associations
between organizational politics and both employee engagement
and stress remain largely untested. It is here argued that
because manipulation, criticism, undermining, disrespect, and
disadvantage can severely impact employees’ willingness to
invest themselves in their role and their organization (Kahn,
1990), work meaningfulness is likely to be particularly relevant
as
a mediator of the relationship between politics and engagement.
As such, when employees experience manipulative, unfair, and
self-serving behavior, they will be less likely to perceive that
their work and the work of others makes a valuable contribution
and serves a worthwhile purpose, and will therefore likely to
be less engaged.
In summary, the study aimed to make a number of
contributions to the literature. First, the research aimed
to test relationships between newly developed measures of
organizational politics and two important aspects or outcomes
of the employee experience—employee stress and employee
engagement. Furthermore, the research aimed to assess if
work meaningfulness acts as a mediating mechanism to, in
part, explain the relationships between organizational politics
and the proposed outcomes. As shown in Figure 1, it is
proposed that work meaningfulness partially mediates the
relationships between organizational politics, and both stress
and employee engagement. Additionally, the research makes a
novel contribution to the literature by assessing the relationship
between stress and engagement.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
Item Development and Data Analytic
Strategy
To identify items for the proposed measures of perceived

organizational politics, an initial pool of items was generated
based on the findings of qualitative research (Landells and
Albrecht, 2015) and an extensive literature review of published
measures and models (Kacmar and Ferris, 1991; Ferris and
Kacmar, 1992; Chao et al., 1994; Parker et al., 1995; Kacmar
and Carlson, 1997; Buchanan and Badham, 1999; Hochwarter
et al., 2003; Ferris et al., 2005; Treadway et al., 2005c;
Buchanan,
2008; Fedor et al., 2008; Landells and Albrecht, 2015). The
items were designed to assess negative organizational politics
across five dimensions. Each of the researchers independently
reviewed the potential items, and then agreed on the 18 items
that best captured each of the five dimensions: relationships
(4 items); reputation (4 items); decisions (3 items); resources
(3 items); communication (4 items). All items had the
organization as a referent.
In line with Anderson and Gerbing’s (1988) two-step
procedure, confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was first
conducted on Sample 1 data to assess the fit of the proposed
measurement model and to determine the need for any
theoretically defensible respecification. The measurement
model was then tested and cross-validated in the second
sample to establish the generalizability of the measures. At
this stage, tests were also conducted to evaluate the proposed
higher order modeling of organizational politics as shown in
Figure 1. Structural equation modeling (SEM) of Sample 2
data was then conducted to test the proposed relationships
(see Figure 1). The final structural model was then cross-
validated using Sample 1 data to help assess the generalizability
of the model.
Participants and Procedure
Respondents in Sample 1 and Sample 2 completed a voluntary
on-line survey using procedures approved by both authors’

university ethics committee. The approval was granted in
accord with the Australian Government National Statement on
Ethical Conduct in Human Research (2007). Before being able
to proceed to the survey, all participants clicked a response
button confirming they understood the information provided
in a participant sheet and confirming they consented to
participate in the research. The participant information sheet
made clear the anonymity and confidentiality of all responses.
No
inducements were provided.
Sample 1 data (N = 303) were collected through a snowball
sampling strategy, drawing on the first author’s professional
networks. Participants needed to be at least 18 years old and to
have worked in an organization with at least 15 employees for
a minimum of 3 months. Participants ranged in age from 23
to 66 years (M = 42 years, SD = 9 years), were 24% male, 76%
female, and had job tenure between 1 and 38 years (M = 8
years,
SD = 7 years). Participants worked in organizations ranging in
size from 15 to 250 employees (34% of respondents), 251 to
1000
employees (33%), to more than 1000 employees (33%).
Sample 2 participants (N = 353) were employees of a large
Australian government organization (2350 staff; 15% response
rate). Participants ranged in age from 18 to 80 years (M = 41
years,
SD = 11 years), and included 38.5% males and 60% females
(four
participants did not indicate their gender). Job tenure ranged
from less than a year to 35 years (M = 7 years, SD = 6 years).
Soper’s (2016) SEM on-line calculator demonstrated that both
samples exceeded the minimum sample size of 166 to establish
sufficient power to test the proposed model.

Measures
Organizational politics was measured, as described above, with
18
items that were developed to measure five proposed dimensions.
All items were anchored on a seven-point Likert-type scale
(1 = strongly disagree, 7 = strongly agree). Employee
engagement
was measured with the six vigor and dedication items of the
9-item Utrecht Work Engagement Scale (UWES-9; Schaufeli
et al., 2006). Acceptable alpha reliabilities have previously been
reported for the 6-item engagement scale (e.g., de Lange et al.,
2016); a 4-item scale (e.g., Albrecht and Marty, 2017; α =
0.91),
and a 3-item scale (Schaufeli et al., 2017; α = 0.77 to 0.95).
Individual stress was measured with a four-item scale used by
Vigoda-Gadot and Talmud (2010; α = 0.75) and adapted from
House and Rizzo (1972). Work meaningfulness was measured
with a scale developed by May et al. (2004) and adapted from
Spreitzer (1995). May et al. (2004) reported an alpha reliability
of α = 0.90 for the six-item scale.
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RESULTS

Measurement Models
Using Sample 1 data, CFA was first conducted on the proposed
measurement model, with each of the 34 items specified to load
on their designated construct. The results yielded only
reasonably
good fit to the data (see Table 1). Although all standardized
loadings were significant, ranging from 0.665 to 0.944, the CFI
and the RMSEA point estimate indicated less than acceptable
fit.
Given that measurement models often require re-specification
(Anderson and Gerbing, 1988), and model parsimony is
an important consideration for structural equation modeling
(Bollen, 1989), modification indices were inspected to identify
and retain the three highest-loading items for each construct.
Jöreskog and Sörbom (1993) argued that a minimum of three
items are required to define a construct.
The respecified CFA yielded improved and generally
acceptable fit (see Table 1). Also, as shown in Table 1, the
respecified measurement model provided superior fit relative to
the null model, a one factor model, and an alternative four
factor
measurement model, with all 15 politics items loading on a
single
factor. Similarly, a theoretically defensible alternative two
factor
model, with all 15 politics items loading on a single factor and
all
meaning, engagement stress items loading on a single factor,
did
not provide acceptable fit. As shown in Table 2, all
standardized
loadings of the re-specified model were high (ranging from
0.679 to 0.982), and the five newly developed three-item
politics

scales demonstrated acceptable alpha reliabilities across both
samples (ranging from α = 0.88 to α = 0.95). Reliability
estimates
for meaningful work, stress and engagement also exceeded the
criterion standard for Cronbach’s alpha (ranging from α = 0.81
to α = 0.95). Furthermore, testing for common method variance
(CMV) using procedures recommended by Podsakoff et al.
(2012) showed that the decrease in standardized loadings ranged
from 0.005 to 0.127 across the full set of 24 items included in
the model. Furthermore, given that the average decrease across
the 24 items was a very modest 0.06, and that all factor loadings
remained statistically significant (p < 0.001) after the inclusion
of the common method factor, the influence of method effects
can, to a large extent, be discounted (Elangovan and Xie, 2000;
Johnson et al., 2011; Podsakoff et al., 2012).
At the next stage of the analysis, the respecified CFA was run
using Sample 2 data. Even though the measurement model again
yielded acceptable fit (see Table 1), cross-validation procedures
were used to more rigorously test the statistical equivalence
or invariance of the 24-item measurement model across both
samples. As a first step in the process (Bollen, 1989), the
baseline
test of the two-group model provided acceptable fit to the
data (χ2 = 1,020.67, df = 448, CFI = 0.96, RMSEA = 0.044),
thereby suggesting equivalence of form across the samples.
Next,
constraining the loadings to be equal across the samples
resulted
in a non-significant change in chi-square relative to the baseline
model (Dχ2 = 24.986, df = 24, p > 0.05). Then, after
additionally
constraining the covariances to be equal, there was also a non-
significant change in chi-square (Dχ2 = 24.058, df = 28, p >
0.05).

Although, as a final step, after additionally constraining the
error
variances to be equal resulted in a significant change in chi-
square (Dχ2 = 102.685, df = 24, p = 0.000), Byrne (2004)
argued
that constraining errors is unduly restrictive and an overly strict
test of invariance. Overall, the invariance tests supported the
generalizability of the model across the two samples.
Table 3 shows the means, standard deviations, interrater
agreement (rWG(J)), and bivariate correlations among the first-
order variables included in the 21-item respecified CFA for
both samples. The rWG(J) statistics (James et al., 1993),
ranging
from 0.44 to 0.62, indicate only low to moderate levels of
agreement for the politics subscales in the Sample 2 data. The
results therefore do not clearly support the ‘shared’
organizational
level perceptions of organizational politics. The correlations in
Table 3, however, show that most of the correlations were
significant and in their predicted direction. The significant
correlations between the politics scales and engagement and
stress provided preliminary support for the proposed modeling.
Contrary to expectations, however, a number of the correlations
TABLE 1 | Fit indices for alternative measurement and
structural models.
Model χ2 df χ2/df TLI CFI SRMR RMSEA RMSEA 90% CI AIC
Measurement Model Sample 1
Proposed 1281.937 498 2.574 0.918 0.927 0.059 0.072 0.067–
0.077 1457.937
Re-specified 444.544 224 1.985 0.960 0.968 0.041 0.057 0.049–

0.065 596.544
Null model 7139.524 276 25.868 0.000 0.000 – 0.287 0.281–
0.293 7187.524
1-Factor model 3444.940 252 13.670 0.490 0.535 0.156 0.205
0.199–0.211 3540.940
2-Factor model 2397.989 251 9.554 0.656 0.687 0.122 0.168
0.162–0.174 2495.989
4-Factor model 1517.552 246 6.169 0.792 0.815 0.060 0.131
0.125–0.137 1625.552
Measurement Model Sample 2 576.135 224 2.572 0.944 0.954
0.052 0.067 0.060–0.074 728.135
Structural Model Sample 2 626.129 241 2.598 0.942 0.950
0.058 0.067 0.061–0.074 744.129
Structural Model Sample 1 502.938 241 2.087 0.956 0.962
0.0464 0.060 0.053–0.067 620.938
Recommended fit indices – relative chi square (χ2/df) ≤ 2,
Tucker Lewis Index (TLI)≥0.90 or 0.95, Comparative Fit Index
(CFI) ≥0.95, standardized root mean square
residual (SRMR) < 0.08, root mean square error of
approximation (RMSEA) ≤0.06 or 0.05, Akaike Information
Criterion (AIC) lower values suggest better fit (Hu and
Bentler, 1999; Kenny, 2015).

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TABLE 2 | Measurement model CFA standardized factor
loadings and (alpha reliabilities).
Survey item Sample 1 Sample 2
Organizational Politics 1: Relationships (Sample 1 α = 0.89;
Sample 2 α = 0.90)
(1) People ingratiate themselves to other people to achieve the
outcomes they desire. 0.892 0.892
(2) People improperly use their relationships to bypass
organizational processes. 0.876 0.882
(3) People cultivate relationships in order to get personal
benefits. 0.798 0.815
Organizational Politics 2: Communication (α = 0.92; α = 0.93)
(1) Gossip drives the way that people interpret what goes on in
this organization. 0.926 0.904
(2) Gossip is the primary way in which information is shared.
0.904 0.913
(3) Rumors are central to people’s understanding of what is
happening in this organization. 0.847 0.907

Organizational Politics 3: Reputation (α = 0.94; α = 0.95)
(1) Individuals stab each other in the back to make themselves
look good. 0.916 0.925
(2) People try to make themselves look good by making others
look incompetent. 0.908 0.955
(3) People undermine others’ credibility behind their backs.
0.931 0.926
Organizational Politics 4: Decisions (α = 0.90; α = 0.88)
(1) People use their position to influence decisions to benefit
themselves 0.930 0.943
(2) People abuse their authority by making decisions that
benefit themselves. 0.945 0.937
(3) People pretend to consult and invite input even though
decisions have already been made. 0.739 0.679
Organizational Politics 5: Resources (α = 0.92; α = 0.89)
(1) People build up resources to increase their personal power,
not to benefit the organization. 0.854 0.815
(2) Too often, people unfairly obtain resources that could be
better used elsewhere. 0.895 0.886
(3) Resources are unfairly allocated based on individual
influence rather than organizational priorities. 0.918 0.869
Meaningful Work: (α = 0.95; α = 0.92)
(1) The work I do in this job is very important to me. 0.857

0.854
(2) My job activities are significant to me. 0.942 0.898
(3) The work I do on this job is meaningful to me. 0.982 0.932
Organizational Stress: (α = 0.85; α = 0.81)
(5.1) If I had a different job, my health would probably
improve. 0.790 0.751
(5.2) I get irritated or annoyed over the way things are going
here. 0.817 0.763
(5.3) I seem to tire quickly. 0.804 0.794
Engagement: (α = 0.91; α = 0.88)
(5.1) When I get up in the morning I feel like going to work.
0.867 0.789
(5.2) At my job I feel strong and vigorous. 0.881 0.874
(5.3) I am enthusiastic about my job. 0.892 0.854
between the first order politics factors and meaningful work
were not significant in Sample 2, and, although significant in
Sample 1, were low.
Figure 1 shows organizational politics modeled as a higher
order construct. Despite the relatively strong correlations
among
the first order factors (ranging from 0.635 to 0.839), the
validity
of higher order models cannot be assumed and needs to be
assessed (Credé and Harms, 2015). The ‘Target Coefficient 2’

(TC2; Marsh, 1987) was used to assess whether the higher order
politics factors adequately explained the covariation among the
first order factors. The TC2 (TC2 = 0.973) supported the higher
order modeling. Furthermore, the first order factor loadings on
the higher order factor (ranging from 0.737 to 0.907) all
exceeded
the recommended level of 0.50 (Leach et al., 2008).
Having established a defensible measurement model, the next
step of the analyses involved testing the proposed structural
relationships (see Figure 1). The fit indices showed the model
fit the Sample 2 data reasonably well (see Table 1). With the
exception of the relationship between politics and engagement,
all of the proposed structural parameters were significant
(see Figure 2). Although the relationship between the higher
order politics factor and engagement was not significant, it
is noteworthy that if the path from stress to engagement
was deleted, the parameter from politics to engagement
became significant (β = −0.260, p < 0.001). Furthermore,
bootstrapping procedures established a significant indirect
effect
β = −0.319; p = 0.001) from politics to engagement through
meaningfulness and stress. However, given that AMOS does
not provide the significance of individual indirect effects, these
tests were conducted in MPlus (Muthén and Muthén, 1998–
2017). The analyses showed that organizational politics had a
significant indirect effect on engagement through meaningful
work (β = −0.11; p = 0.001; Confidence Interval 95%: −0.18 to
−0.04) and through stress (β = −0.30; p = 0.001; CI95%: −0.40
to −0.21). Politics also had a significant indirect effect on stress
through meaningful work (β = 0.04; p = 0.013; CI95%: 0.01 to
0.08); and meaningful work had a significant indirect effect on
engagement through stress β = 0.094; p = 0.001; CI95%: 0.03
to 0.16). Overall, the model explained 4% of the variance in
meaningful work, 68% of the variance in employee engagement,

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TABLE 3 | Means, standard deviations, interrater agreement
(rWG(J)), correlations Sample 1 (below diagonal) and Sample 2
(above diagonal).
Measure Mean
sample 1
SD
sample 1
Mean
sample 2
SD
sample 2
rWG(J)
sample 2
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
(1) Relationships 4.81 1.36 4.39 1.47 (0.62) – 0.66 0.78 0.78

0.82 −0.06 0.45 −0.26
(2) Communication 3.96 1.63 3.75 1.56 (0.57) 0.66 – 0.64 0.64
0.71 −0.17 0.55 −0.39
(3) Reputation 3.83 1.64 3.70 1.69 (0.47) 0.68 0.66 – 0.84 0.73
−0.15 0.54 −0.31
(4) Decisions 4.25 1.52 3.84 1.59 (0.44) 0.74 0.62 0.78 – 0.79
−0.09 0.48 −0.26
(5) Resources 3.92 1.54 3.92 1.47 (0.61) 0.77 0.65 0.71 0.78 –
−0.09 0.51 −0.26
(6) Meaningful work 5.47 1.36 5.24 1.32 −0.17 −0.17 −0.20
−0.16 −0.18 – −0.26 0.66
(7) Stress 3.50 1.67 3.81 1.58 0.50 0.52 0.57 0.49 0.53 −0.30 –
−0.65
(8) Engagement 4.93 1.49 4.57 1.38 −0.33 −0.36 −0.41 −0.34
−0.36 0.69 −0.68 –
Values in italics are non-significant at p < 0.05.
FIGURE 2 | Proposed model standardized parameters;
significant at p < 0.001 (unless ∗ < 0.05, ∗ ∗ < 0.01, or ns) and
percent variance explained for Sample 2
(Sample 1 in parentheses).
and 29% of the variance in individual stress. Additionally,
invariance analysis demonstrated that the proposed structural
model generalized across both samples (Dχ2 = 27.668, df = 26,
p > 0.05). As such, the path coefficients were shown to be
statistically equivalent across both samples.

DISCUSSION
As previously noted, the research aimed to test relationships
between newly developed measures of organizational politics
and
two important aspects of the employee experience—employee
stress and employee engagement. Furthermore, the research
aimed to assess if work meaningfulness acts as a mediating
mechanism to, in part, explain the relationships between
organizational politics and the proposed outcomes.
Using data drawn from two independent samples and using
quite stringent statistical tests, the results suggest a number
of contributions to the literature. First, the results support
previously reported direct effects of organizational politics on
stress. Second, although oragnizational politics did not have a
significant direct effect on engagement in either sample, politics
were shown to have indirect effects on engagement through
work meaningfulness and stress. These findings are important
given the very considerable amount of research showing the
important influence that both engagement and stress have
on a range of individual and organizational performance and
well-being outcomes. Stress, for example, has been linked to
decreased employee health and well-being, increased turnover,
higher absenteeism, and lower job performance (Randall and
Perrewé, 1995; Summers et al., 1995), and employee
engagement
has been linked with organizational competitive advantage, job
performance and employee well-being (Macey and Schneider,
2008; Crawford et al., 2010; Barrick et al., 2015). Consistent
with
previous research demonstrating that organizational politics, as
a
hindrance demand, can have an adverse impact on engagement
(Crawford et al., 2010), the present study is therefore among the

few to demonstrate that organizational politics has an influence,
albeit indirect, on engagement. Organizational politics could
therefore usefully be included as an organizational-level
demand
in future examinations of the Job Demands-Resources model
(Bakker and Demerouti, 2007, 2014).
In addition to assessing the influence of politics on stress and
engagement, the present research is one of the few to examine
the influence of stress on engagement. Although demands
are explicitly recognized as ‘stressors’ within JD-R research
(e.g., Crawford et al., 2010), stress itself has not often been
operationized within JD-R research. Instead, the majority of
research looking at the health impairment pathway of the JD-
R (Bakker and Demerouti, 2014) has focused on burnout or
fpsyg-10-01612 July 9, 2019 Time: 17:38 # 8
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withdrawal behavior (e.g., Albrecht, 2015a). The finding that
stress has a strong and direct effect on engagement suggests
that stress too could usefully be included more explicitly
in JD-R research models, and recognized as an important
explanatory variable. The finding that stress mediated the
influence of both organizational politics and meaningful work
on engagement provides additional weight to its potentially

important influence on engagement.
Further to the previous finding, and more generally, the
research also makes a significant contribution to the literature
by providing insight into how perceptions of organizational
politics affect outcomes. Only a limited number of researchers
have examined whether Kahn’s (1990) psychological conditions
explain the relationship between politics and both engagement
and stress. The results of the current research showed that
work meaningfulness partially mediated the relationship
between
organizational politics and stress, and between politics and
engagement. The current study also adds to the literature
by being the first to examine the relationship between
organizational politics and meaningful work. The results
demonstrate that the negative use and abuse of relationships,
communication channels, resources, reputation, and decision-
making, all adversely impact employees’ perceptions that the
work they do is meaningful and that through their work they
make a meaningful contribution. It needs to be noted that
although the influence of politics on meaning was significant,
the association was not strong. Nevertheless, along with
previous
research showing that meaningful work is associated with
psychological well-being (Zika and Chamberlain, 1992),
positive
mood (King et al., 2006), psychological benefits (Britt et al.,
2001), and organizational commitment, job satisfaction, and job
involvement (Milliman et al., 2003) this is an important finding
as it identifies organizational politics as a potential ‘upstream’
antecedent of engagement.
The research introduced new measures of organizational
politics. In support of the construct validity of the measures,
the measures were shown to provide good fit to the data,
to have acceptable reliabilities, and to be invariant across

two independent samples. In further support of the measures,
the strong and positive correlations between each of the
five dimensions and stress correspond closely to previously
reported meta-analytic associations between POPS and stress.
Additionally, the measures have the advantage of being
relatively
brief. The research also contributes to the literature by showing
the psychometric defensibility of a three-item measure of
engagement. Schaufeli et al. (2017) argued “there is increasing
pressure on researchers to develop valid, reliable, yet short
measures without redundant items” (p. 2) to reduce the
‘burden’ placed on participants who are asked to complete
organizational surveys.
Contrary to expectations, and the limited number of studies
that have reported shared perceptions of organizational politics
(e.g., Vashdi et al., 2013), the findings did not support the
conceptualization of politics as a climate level construct in
the Sample 2 data. The statistical tests of agreement did not
reach generally accepted standards. By way of explanation,
and consistent with the findings of Treadway et al. (2005a),
the results may therefore suggest sub-climates within different
organizational units or Divisions that explain the absence of
strong shared perceptions across the sample. Alternatively,
from a statistical perspective, Woehr et al. (2015) argued that
agreement indices are likely to be lower at the organizational
level relative to the group or team level of analysis. Irrespective
of the explanation, Landells and Albrecht (2015) suggested that
a diversity of perspectives about organizational politics within
an organization is of as much interest as their sharedness. In
practical terms, however, given the variability of
organizational-
level agreement about organizational politics across different
studies, interventions to remediate organizational politics
should

be targeted at particular units or groups where it can be
demonstrated that organizational politics is prevalent.
In terms of additional research opportunities, further research
could usefully be directed toward identifying the individual and
organizational variables that influence organizational politics.
Given the influence that politics has on meaningful work,
stress, engagement and other important outcomes, it will be
useful to identify and incorporate influential upstream variables
in research models. In a meta-analysis of the antecedents
of organizational politics Atinc et al. (2010) identified the
importance of organizational design characteristics such as
centralization and procedural fairness. Atinc et al. (2010) also
identified job and work environment characteristics such as
autonomy, feedback, advancement opportunities, development
opportunities, met expectations, trust, and leader-member
exchange as important antecedents of politics. Atinc et al.
(2010) also acknowledged the need for more research on the
moderators of politics-outcome relationships (see for example
Rosen and Hochwarter, 2014). However, given the number of
years since Atinc et al.’s (2010) meta-analysis was published,
and the relatively modest number of samples included in
their analysis, additional research in more contemporary work
contexts that includes the factors they identified could usefully
be undertaken. More generally, given the scale and pace of
change characteristic of the contemporary working context (van
Dam, 2017), additional research could usefully be focused on
identifying the influence of uncertainty, insecurity and change
on the emergence and maintenance of organizational politics,
work meaningfulness, stress, and engagement (e.g., DeGhetto
et al., 2017). Similarly, the influence of more agile ways of
organizing work on the emergence and nature of organizational
politics could usefully be researched. Further research could
also examine the role of psychological safety and psychological
availability as mediators or moderators of the relationship
between perceptions of organizational politics and outcomes

such
as engagement and stress.
A number of study limitations need to be acknowledged.
Given the data were self-reports taken at one point in time
the possible influence of common method bias needs to be
considered. Although researchers have argued that the risks of
common method are overstated (Conway and Lance, 2010), the
use of quite rigorous CFA measurement techniques and cross-
validation procedures conducted across the two samples helped
establish the robustness of the findings. Furthermore, given the
very modest average reduction in the standardized loadings
fpsyg-10-01612 July 9, 2019 Time: 17:38 # 9
Work
after a common methods factor was included, and given that
all the factor loadings remained statistically significant after the
common methods factor was modeled, the issue of CMV appears
not to be overly problematic. Nevertheless, cross-sectional
studies
do not permit interpretation of causality. Future longitudinal
research could usefully be conducted to determine cause and
effect relationships. This is particularly the case when testing
mediation models (Maxwell et al., 2011; Kline, 2015). Caution
also needs to be undertaken with regard to the generalizability

of the findings. Both samples consisted of mostly Australian
employees from either a public service agency or a range of
public
and private organizations. As past research has demonstrated
that organizational politics perceptions are higher in public
organizations (Vigoda-Gadot and Kapun, 2005), the findings
need to be verified across additional organizational and cultural
settings. Despite the limitations, however, the study has
delivered
a number of insights into the politics of organizations and
presents clear opportunities for future research. Using the newly
developed measures, this study confirmed that organizational
politics has significant effects on stress and engagement.
Furthermore, the explanatory power of work meaningfulness as
a mediator of relationships with perceptions of organizational
politics was also demonstrated. We look forward to future
studies
which validate this suite of measures in a range of cultural and
contemporary organizational settings that further investigate the
increasingly important construct of organizational politics.
ETHICS STATEMENT
The research was approved by both authors’ university ethics
committee. The approval was granted in accord with the
Australian Government National Statement on Ethical Conduct
in Human Research (2007). Before being able to proceed to
the on-line survey, all participants clicked a response button
confirming they understood the information provided in a
participant sheet and confirming they consented to participate
in the research. The participant information sheet made
clear the anonymity and confidentiality of all responses. No
inducements were provided.
AUTHOR CONTRIBUTIONS

All authors listed have made a substantial, direct and
intellectual
contribution to the work, and approved it for publication.
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Conflict of Interest Statement: The authors declare that the
research was
conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial
relationships that could
be construed as a potential conflict of interest.
Copyright © 2019 Landells and Albrecht. This is an open-access
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provided the original
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distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply
with these terms.
https://doi.org/10.1108/02683940310511872
https://doi.org/10.1177/1094428115582090
https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychology#articlesPerceiv
ed Organizational Politics, Engagement, and Stress: The
Mediating Influence of Meaningful

WorkIntroductionDefinitions and Measures of Organizational
PoliticsOutcomes Associated With Organizational
PoliticsIndividual StressEmployee EngagementWork
MeaningfulnessMaterials and MethodsItem Development and
Data Analytic StrategyParticipants and
ProcedureMeasuresResultsMeasurement
ModelsDiscussionEthics StatementAuthor
ContributionsReferences
Table of Contents
1. Financial Start Up Needs 2
a. Analysis 2
b. Rationale 3
2. Financing Options 3
3. Financial Ratios 4
1. Financial Start Up Needsa. Analysis
Start-up needs
Quantity
Total based on month
Amount
Cash at hand
200,000
30
6000,000
Set of cooking tools and Equipment’s
Total needed is 4 as each cost 300,000
0
12,00,000

Purchase of chicken and other needed raw material
5 kg per day and each kg is 1000 of chicken and 10,000 for
other material
150000+300000
450,000
Rent cost
250,000 monthly
250000
250000
Water and cold drink dispenser
100,000 per dispenser of water and cold drink. Total needed in
quantity is 2
400,000
400,000
Air conditioners
5 as each has a cost of 100,000
500000
500000
Tables and chairs
15 sets as each costs 150000
2250,000
2250,000
Standby generator
200000
0
200,000
Utility expenses (electricity bills, fuel etc)
100,000 per day
30
30,00,000
Labour cost
Total 20 working staff and each would be paid 50000, and for
executives 7 managers it needs to pay 120000

30000000+840000
30840000
Total
42090,000b. Rationale
Café grill would require cash at hand of Rs. 200000 to meet day
to day operations and financial needs. And it also requires a set
of cooking tools and equipment in order to cook fries, burgers,
broasts and other needed stuff for cooking. Not only this it
would also require chicken and other raw material needed to
cook chicken and other stuff and it will also incur the cost of
rent as we will not go for the purchase of land and building
because it will incur an excessive cost as paying aren’t in a
month would be simple enough. Café grill would also need to
have water, and cold drink dispensers in order to serve drinks,
water and ice cream to customers. Since it also needs to have an
air conditioner in order to create a smooth and comfortable
environment for customers as because its competitors offer all
these facilities along with it will also need a standby generator
in case of electricity breakdown occurs so that our customers
don’t get dissatisfied with the environment we provide. Lastly,
it will incur some utility expenses such as electricity bills of
light, machines and needed equipment and incurrence of fuel
charges for generator.
2. Financing Options
There are many ways through which company can generate the
amount of money to cater its business needs as café grill can
also go for the joint stock company, loans from bank, peers or
friends, a sole proprietorship in case if he has his own saving
hence in my opinion and partnership. The best financing option
for café grill would be going for partnership among all of its
partners as it can obtain money by a partnership of 5 partners
among each other. As one of the options can be that each
partner must invest an equal amount of money in the business
and also invest sufficient expertise and time needed to run this

restaurant business. Since another option can be active partners
who may invest less amount of money and provide expertise and
knowledge in the business and sleeping partner must invest a
huge amount of investment and pay a very little time to manage
the day to day operations. And approaching through this type
of financing would be finding credible partners who may invest
a certain sum of money as these credible partners can be one of
your friends, relatives or colleagues.3. Financial Ratios
Although there are many direct ways to measure the
performance of the business as we can measure it by evaluating
the number of assets café grill have, low amount of liabilities it
has and etc. but the two most important rations in order to
measure the performance of the business is Return on Equity
ratio (ROE) and current assets (CA) ratio as firstly current
assets ratio means that the amount of currents assets it has in
comparison to its liabilities. In other words, A high proportion
shows a greater degree of protection, which expands flexibility
for the company And also high ratio indicates that company can
have good financial efficiency of using its assets efficiently to
create revenue and its capability to deal with those advantages
whereas return on equity refers to measuring the financial
efficiency that tells us how much company generate profits
relative to its stockholder investment as A rising ROE
recommends that an organization is expanding its capacity to
produce profits without requiring as much capital. It
additionally demonstrates how well an organization
administrates its investors' capital. Hence with these two ratios,
we can measure the company performance of how it is
performing.
3 | Page

Crystal
Messer
FIN 317
Table of Contents
1. Brief2
i. Location 2
ii. Type of customers 2
iii. Competitors 2
2. Why this type of business interests you? 2
3. Why do you believe it would be successful 3

Cafe Grill
Brief
This business is from the food and beverage industry. Café grill
would be a fast-food restaurant chain like Mc Donald, Burger
King, KFC, and other fast-food restaurants. And the type of
business I am planning to start would be a partnership as it
doesn’t require paying income taxes as each partner would have
to pay tax based on personal income and it would have
increased pool of knowledge, capital, and expertise.
Location
The location of the business Warner Robins, Georgia, USA.
Since this would be the best location as would be the best fit
because people would love to try something new when coming
to Mc Donald’s and most of the restaurants and because the area
of your food business will affect about as much as the menu. If
your restaurant is at an inappropriate spot, you won’t attract
customers you will require so as to remain in business.
Type of customers
The type of customers of café grill would be fast food lovers
such as youngsters(these are the people who would love to
spend most of their pocket money with friends ) , children(

because they don’t prefer homemade food every time) and
office going people( who don’t have time to make food would
prefer to drive-thru).
Competitors
The main competitors of café grill would be Mc Donald’s, KFC,
Burger King, Subway, Dunkin Donuts, Pizza hut, Wendy’s and
Taco Bell as they all are direct competitors of café grill as
because they have an almost similar target market and also
selling nearly similar food.
Why this type of business interests you?
As an entrepreneur, I love to do creative and innovative things
and I have an interest in cooking and trying new recipes so it is
the passion and creativity that lures me to open a restaurant.
Not only this but I am also a sociable person so restaurant
business falls into the hospitability category business so I love
to meet new people (greeting customers and solving their
problems). In Addition to this, I possess strong stamina for
working long hours and solving uncertain problems.
Why do you believe it would be successful?
The reason behind taking restaurant business is that eatery
business is one of the most beneficial business in view of its
developing demand as nowadays people want to dine out more
in comparison to cooking meal at home and as per market
research more than twice a week people like to dine out and try
to taste new and tasty food and spend some quality time with
their family and peers as because routine is hectic there so they
find this solution as more appropriate as eating food while
having good time with family.
3 | Page

RAE-Revista de Administração de Empresas (Journal of
Business Management)
ISSN 0034-759082 © RAE | São Paulo | 59(2) | March-April
2019 | 82-94
ADNAN RIAZ1
[email protected]
ORCID: 0000-0001-8185-9316
SAIMA BATOOL2
[email protected]
ORCID: 0000-0003-2655-2607
MOHD SHAMSURI MD SAAD3
[email protected]
ORCID: 0000-0002-2269-5494
1Allama Iqbal Open University,
Department of Business
Administration, Islamabad,
Pakistan
2Army Public College of
Management and Sciences,
Islamabad, Pakistan
3Universiti Teknikal Malaysia
Melaka, Melaka, Malaysia
ARTICLES
Submitted 01.21.2018. Approved 09.03.2018

Evaluated through a double-blind review process. Scientific
Editor: Pablo Isla
Original version
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/S0034-759020190202
THE MISSING LINK BETWEEN HIGH
PERFORMANCE WORK PRACTICES AND
PERCEIVED ORGANIZATIONAL POLITICS
O elo perdido entre o sistema de trabalho de alto desempenho e
a percepção
de política organizacional
El eslabón perdido entre prácticas laborales de alto rendimiento
y percepción
de la política organizacional
ABSTRACT
A vast majority of research characterizes organizational politics
as an aversive phenomenon and thus
recommends exploring the factors that minimize its intensity.
This study primarily endeavored to exa-
mine the role of high performance work practices (HPWPs) in
controlling organizational politics. The
moderating influence of Machiavellian personalities on HPWPs-
politics was also evaluated. Through
a questionnaire survey, 243 responses were obtained from
engineers working in a local industrial area
of capital city of Pakistan. The results showed an inverse
relationship between HPWPs and perceived
organizational politics (POP), and the moderating role of
Machiavellianism was substantiated. Practical
implications are presented based on the study results.
KEYWORDS | High performance work practices,
Machiavellian, perceived organizational politics, engi-
neering sector, time-lagged study.

RESUMO
A grande maioria das pesquisas caracteriza a política
organizacional como um fenômeno aversivo,
portanto recomenda que sejam explorados os fatores para
minimizar a sua intensidade. Este estudo
objetivou principalmente examinar o papel das práticas do
Sistema de Trabalho de Alto Desempenho
(STAD) no controle da política organizacional. A influência
moderadora das personalidades maquiavé-
licas também foi avaliada nos STAD em relação à percepção de
política na organização (PPO). Por meio
de questionário, foram obtidas 243 respostas de engenheiros que
trabalham na área industrial local. Os
resultados mostraram uma relação inversa entre STAD e PPO.
Da mesma forma, o papel moderador do
maquiavelismo foi confirmado. A discussão e as implicações
práticas são apresentadas com base nos
resultados do estudo.
PALAVRAS-CHAVE | Práticas de trabalho de alto desempenho,
maquiavelismo, percepção de política na
organização, setor de engenharia, estudo demorado.
RESUMEN
Una vasta mayoría de investigaciones caracteriza a las políticas
organizacionales como un fenómeno
aversivo, por consiguiente, recomendado para explorar los
factores para minimizar la intensidad. Este
estudio intenta primariamente analizar el papel de las prácticas
laborales de alto rendimiento (high per-
formance work practices [HPWPs]) en controlar las políticas
organizacionales. La influencia moderadora
de personalidades maquiavélicas también se evaluó en HPWPs
para la relación de políticas percibidas.
A través de una encuesta con cuestionario, se obtuvieron 243
respuestas de ingenieros que trabajan

en el área industrial local. Los resultados presentados mostraron
una relación inversa entre HPWPs y la
percepción de la política organizacional. Asimismo se corroboró
el papel moderador del maquiavelismo.
El debate y las implicaciones prácticas se presentan con base en
los resultados del estudio.
PALABRAS CLAVE | Prácticas laborales de alto rendimiento,
maquiavelismo, percepción de la política
organizacional, sector de ingeniería, estudio retrasado.
ISSN 0034-7590
ARTICLES | THE MISSING LINK BETWEEN HIGH
PERFORMANCE WORK PRACTICES AND PERCEIVED
ORGANIZATIONAL POLITICS
Adnan Riaz | Saima Batool | Mohd Shamsuri Md Saad
83 © RAE | São Paulo | 59(2) | March-April 2019 | 82-94
INTRODUCTION
Organizational politics has been a key topic of discussion since
many decades, primarily for two reasons. First, politics is
inevitable
and prevails with varying intensity, irrespective of the nature,
culture,
and size of the organization (Witt, Andrews, & Kacmar, 2000).
Second, politics is mostly perceived to be harmful, so there is a
need to address it by exploring its causes (Meisler & Vigoda-
Gadot,
2014). Various organizational and job-related factors have been
highlighted as key antecedents of organizational politics.
Despite

categorical studies on minimizing politicking in the
organization,
extant research lacks any clear understanding of the impact of
high
performance work practices (HPWPs) on organizational politics.
Previous studies highlight the role of certain human resources
(HR)
practices to control organizational politics (commonly measured
as
perceived organizational politics [POP]). However, HPWPs are
not
used as a holistic construct to predict POP, as pointed out by
Atinc,
Darrat, Fuller, and Parker (2010). Since organizations have
keenly
realized the importance of HR practices to cope with adversities
and future challenges (Paré & Tremblay, 2007; Peacock, 2017),
this
study would help to address the negative effects of
organizational
politics by applying a specific set of key HPWPs.
Organizations of all types have to face politics in their
working environments in different forms (Bodla & Danish,
2009).
Initially, research in this particular domain was more focused
on
examining the nature, causes, and consequences of politics in
broad sectors and regional areas. By accepting politics as a
reality
of organizational life, recently, researchers’ focus has shifted to
examining models of organizational politics among professional
groups, such as nurses (Basar & Basim, 2016), teachers
(Gibson,
2006), and frontline hotel employees (Karatepe, Babakus, &
Yavas,

2012)—especially groups that are largely responsible for the
success
and failure of any organization. Engineers and employees
involved
in highly specialized tasks are more vulnerable to politics
because of
their resource dependence and dominant role in organizational
life.
By contrast, relationships between organizational-
level factors and outcomes are susceptible to personality and
dispositional factors (Kooij et al., 2013; Sendjaya, Pekerti,
Härtel,
Hirst, & Butarbutar, 2016). For most of the early management
researches, researchers focused on possible moderators
changing
the strengths and directions of the relationships (Dawson,
2014). Neglecting situational factors may challenge the causal
relationships. Relationships between HPWPs and outcomes
may vary due to individual differences. Previous studies have
shown the Machiavellian dark side of personality attributes,
wherein these personalities not only involve themselves in
political maneuverings but are also considered the proponents
of politics (Kacmar, Bozeman, Carlson, & Anthony, 1999;
O’connor & Morrison, 2001). Therefore, it would be interesting
to
scrutinize the HPWPs-POP association for Machiavellian and
non-
Machiavellian personalities. The environment plays an
important
role in shaping personalities (Göllner et al., 2017) .
Machiavellian
(or Mach) tendencies are believed to be developed in retrenched
environments (Tucker, Lowman, & Marino, 2016). Particularly,
culture plays an important role in developing and helping Dark

Triad personalities (O’Boyle, Forsyth, Banks, & McDaniel,
2012).
It would be interesting to observe the extent to which engineers
show Mach tendencies and how these tendencies affect the
postulated HPWPs-POP relationship.
In sum, this study contributes in different ways. First,
although organizational politics has been an area of interest
for various scholars, the relationship between HPWPs as
a consolidated measure and POP is yet to be established
(Atinc, Darrat, Fuller, & Parker, 2010). Second, Mach has been
conclusively found to be a key personality trait that perceives
and exercises politics in the organization (Valle & Perrewe,
2000). In this study, Mach’s role as a moderator is explored
on the postulated relationship. Lastly, this study also strives
to satisfy the concern of Hofstede and Hofstede (2005) who
categorically emphasized that theories and research findings
should be generalized cautiously. Dissimilarities among
countries
with respect to cultural dimensions recommend the need for
country-specific findings. Hence, this study conducts detailed
analysis of the impact of HPWPs on POP with the moderating
role of Machiavellianism among employees working as
engineers.
LITERATURE REVIEW
HPWPs
HPWPs are defined as a set of consistent, integrated, and
interdependent HR practices (Guthrie, 2001; Huselid & Becker,
1995; Pfeffer, 1998; Zacharatos, Barling, & Iverson, 2005).
They
play an important role in developing organizational
competencies
and promoting a social relationship among employees (Shin &
Konrad, 2017). Therefore, organizations need to know the

specific
bundle of HPWPs that best suits their requirements and helps
them acquire the desired competencies (Posthuma, Campion,
Masimova, & Campion, 2013). According to Harley, Allen, and
Sargent (2007), it is difficult to determine the best combination
of HPWPs. However, some examples of HPWPs include
procedural hiring, training and skill development opportunities,
compensation, decision-making participation, flexible working
hours, information sharing, empowerment, and job design
ISSN 0034-7590
ARTICLES | THE MISSING LINK BETWEEN HIGH
PERFORMANCE WORK PRACTICES AND PERCEIVED
ORGANIZATIONAL POLITICS
Adnan Riaz | Saima Batool | Mohd Shamsuri Md Saad
84 © RAE | São Paulo | 59(2) | March-April 2019 | 82-94
(Combs, Liu, Hall, & Ketchen, 2006; Rabl, Jayasinghe, Gerhart,
& Kühlmann, 2014). For this study, we follow Bamberger,
Biron,
and Meshoulam (2014)’s integrated HPWPs model comprising
selective recruitment, training and development, career
progression, internal promotions, job guarantee, target-based
performance, incentives and rewards, and active participation.
As summarized by Ma, Long, Zhang, Zhang, and Lam (2017),
HPWPs play a significant role in fostering social harmony
among
organizational employees. The focus of this study is to validate
the link between HPWPs and positive organizational behavior
by

examining engineers who are generally thought to be
professionals
and responsible for organizational success and failure (Hiebert,
2001; Lobontiu, 2010). Following the tenet of the social
exchange
theory (Blau, 1964), organizations offering the best HR bundles
are
basically developing psychological reservoirs for the employees
to
face workplace challenges. Employees feel honored upon
receiving
extra care from the organization and may reciprocate
accordingly
during deleterious situations (Gouldner, 1960).
POP
POP is defined as the extent to which employees perceive
political
behavior and maneuvering in their work environment that lead
to unjust and unfair results (Ferris, Russ, & Fandt, 1989). It
is widely believed that individual behavior is the outcome of
perception rather than reality itself (e.g., Gandz & Murray,
1980;
Porter, Crampon, & Smith, 1976). Empirical results also support
the strong association between perceived reality and employees’
actions and performances (Purves, Morgenstern, & Wojtach,
2015).
This is the reason POP has resulted in adverse consequences.
For
example, Ferris et al. (1998) concluded that POP led to
employees’
withdrawal behavior, reduced job involvement, job anxiety, and
job dissatisfaction. Some other empirical evidences found POP
to
be an antecedent to psychological strain, job dissatisfaction,

low
performance, and low organizational citizenship behavior
(Chang,
Rosen, & Levy, 2009; Miller, Rutherford, & Kolodinsky, 2008).
To
counter organizational politics, a number of factors have been
highlighted. For example, a transparent and fair environment,
role
clarity, growth opportunities, and resourcefulness are among the
few factors to control POP (Muhammad, 2007; Poon, 2003;
Thau
& Mitchell, 2010; Valle & Perrewe, 2000).
HPWPs and POP
The shared mental model (SMM) explicates the mutually held
assumptions and perceptions that correspond with collective
conduct (Fiore, Salas, & Cannon-Bowers, 2001). SMMs display
a dominant influence over individuals’ behavior (Maynard &
Gilson, 2014). Unique and consistent HPWPs such as extensive
staffing, training, decentralization, open communication, and
performance-oriented compensation result in shared feelings
of care, equality, support, responsiveness, and trust in the
organization. This subsequently reduces the perception of
inequality, favoritism, and self-serving behavior, which are
termed
as organizational politics in organizational behavior literature.
Employees also have a shared understanding of the procedures,
practices, and policies of the organization, as well as the type
of behaviors that are desired and appreciated. Organizational
support ultimately refrains them from exhibiting any
illegitimate
behavior not sanctioned by the organizational authorities
(Bowen
& Ostroff, 2004). Thus, we may hypothesize the following:

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