Variation of Political Skill Dimensions Across Different Industries

The purpose of this study to ascertain if there is any variation in political skill dimensions ((a) social astuteness, (b) interpersonal influence, (c) networking ability and (d) apparent sincerity) exhibited by employees in India’s seven industry sectors. In this study, the Political Skill Inventory (PSI) is used to examine such variations. Five hundred fifty survey respondents are employed in seven sectors viz. automobile, education, finance, fast moving consumer goods, health, information technology and telecom. The results exemplify that statistically significant differences are exhibited in these political skill dimensions by the employees in different industry sectors chosen for this research. Since these differences are reflected on four dimensions of the political skill, this study makes a unique contribution by developing an understanding of individual dimensions of political skill, thus, enabling greater insight into skill enhancement at various levels. Further, this study contributes by furnishing insights on skills useful for practitioners to understand dominance and lack of industry-specific skills within PSI inventory. The implications of this study could be in the areas such as personnel selection, framing skill development tools and programmes, enhancing job performance, achieving organizational goals and improvising organizational culture.

The Relationship between Teachers’ Political Skills and Work Engagement

The purpose of the present study is to ascertain the relationship between teachers’ political skills and work engagement. Correlational design is employed to complete the process of this research. The population of this study is composed of 4494 teachers working in Usak Province of Turkey. Convenience sampling was used in this study. The sample size of the study was made up 297 teachers. The data were collected through ‘Political Skill Inventory’ and ‘Work Engagement Scale.’ The data analysis was conducted via arithmetic mean, standard deviation, Pearson Moment Correlation Analysis and path analysis. According to the results, the levels of teachers’ political skills and work engagement were high. Another finding of the study revealed that there was a moderate, positive and significant relationship between the dimensions of social astuteness, interpersonal influence skill, networking ability and sincerity and the level of work engagement. The research has also showed that the fact that teachers’ political skills had the dimensions of interpersonal influence skill and sincerity had a positive, high level and significant effect on their work engagement. In addition, it was concluded that teachers’ level of social astuteness and networking ability did not predict their levels of work engagement. In light of those results, it is recommended that certain activities to improve teachers’ political skills must be organized in schools.

Pretesting a political skill scale in a sample of teacher-leaders from polytechnics in northeast Nigeria

Although the Political Skill Inventory (PSI) is the benchmark measure of the political skill construct, the existence and frequent use of other measures suggest that the PSI fails to cover the content domain of the construct comprehensively. This study utilised the extant political skill measures in developing a robust and parsimonious political skill scale for assessing the political sensitivity of teacher-leaders in higher education. Cognitive tests, behaviour coding and respondent debriefing were conducted to evaluate a 38-item pool on political skill in a sample of 36 teacher-leaders drawn from nine polytechnics situated in Northeast Nigeria. The scale's interrater agreement was computed using Fleiss' κ statistic based on categorical data from five expert reviews. The results of our analyses revealed a 15-item Political Skill Scale (PSS) that reflects the social competence teacher-leaders need in performing the largely voluntary roles of teacher leadership. This work contributes towards contextual mapping of the political skill construct in an African setting. It also offers a new political skill measure.

Paixão pelo trabalho e competências de gestão interpessoal: Validação de escalas para a sua avaliação junto de gestores empresariais

O presente estudo teve como objetivo a validação da Passion Toward Work Scale (PTWS – Escala da Paixão pelo Trabalho; Vallerand & Houlfort, 2003) e do Political Skill Inventory (PSI – Inventário de Competências de Gestão Interpessoal; Ferris et al., 2005) para gestores empresariais portugueses. A PTWS é uma escala composta por 14 itens, distribuídos por duas dimensões: paixão obsessiva e paixão harmoniosa. O PSI, constituído por 18 itens, integra quatro dimensões: a perspicácia social, a influência interpessoal, a capacidade para estabelecer redes de relacionamento profissional, e a sinceridade genuína.Participaram neste estudo 131 gestores portugueses, do norte ao sul do país, de várias áreas de atividade, faixas etárias e de ambos os sexos. Os resultados encontrados sugerem que ambos os instrumentos apresentam elevados índices de precisão e que os constructos definidos originalmente pelos autores se replicam na sua estrutura dimensional nesta amostra portuguesa. Foi observada, ainda, uma correlação positiva e estatisticamente significativa entre as competências de gestão interpessoal avaliadas pelo PSI e a dimensão paixão harmoniosa do PTWS.

Measure invariance of the Political Skill Inventory (PSI) across five cultures

This research expands the study of political skill, a construct developed in North America, to other cultures. We examine the psychometric properties of the Political Skill Inventory (PSI) and test the measurement equivalence of the scale in a non-American context. Respondents were 1511 employees from China, Germany, Russia, Turkey, and the United States. The cross-cultural generalizability of the construct is established through consistent evidence of multi-group invariance in an increasingly stringent series of analyses of mean and covariance structures. Overall, the study provides systematic evidence that political skill can be treated as a stable construct among diverse cultural groups. Furthermore, our findings demonstrate that translated PSI measures operationalize the construct similarly. With some exceptions, the item loadings and intercepts are invariant for the US and non-US responses, suggesting partial measurement equivalence. After verifying the accuracy of item translation, we conclude that any differences can be explained by variation in the cultural value of uncertainly avoidance and cultural differences on a low-to-high context continuum. Detected dissimilarities are addressed, and some suggestions regarding the correct use across borders of the instrument by managers and researchers are provided.

Psychometric Properties of a Chinese Translation of the Political Skill Inventory

Ferris and colleagues defined political skill in organizations as “the ability to effectively understand others at work and to use such knowledge to influence others to act in ways that enhance one's personal and/or organizational objectives.” In this study, the psychometric properties of a Chinese translation of the Political Skill Inventory were investigated, supporting construct, convergent, discriminant, and criterion validities. The results suggested that the Chinese translation retained a four-factor structure. Political skill was positively correlated with self-monitoring, conscientiousness, political savvy, emotional intelligence, extraversion, agreeableness, and proactive personality, and was negatively correlated with trait anxiety and external locus of control. After controlling for age, sex, and job tenure, political skill was predictive of task performance, work contribution, and interpersonal help.