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Career Success Implications of

Political Skill
a b b
Samuel Y. Todd , Kenneth J. Harris , Ranida B. Harris &
c
Anthony R. Wheeler
a
Georgia Southern University
b
Indiana University Southeast
c
University of Rhode Island
Published online: 07 Aug 2010.

To cite this article: Samuel Y. Todd , Kenneth J. Harris , Ranida B. Harris & Anthony R. Wheeler
(2009): Career Success Implications of Political Skill, The Journal of Social Psychology, 149:3,
279-304

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 The Journal of Social Psychology, 2009, 149(3), 179–204
Copyright © 2009 Heldref Publications

Career Success Implications

of Political Skill
SAMUEL Y. TODD
Georgia Southern University
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KENNETH J. HARRIS
RANIDA B. HARRIS
Indiana University Southeast
ANTHONY R. WHEELER
University of Rhode Island

ABSTRACT. The authors investigated the individual characteristic of political skill and
its relation to 5 different career-related outcomes (total compensation, promotions, career
satisfaction, life satisfaction, and perceived external job mobility). They examined data
obtained from a sample of 191 employees working a wide range of occupations. The
results reveal that political skill is associated with 4 of the 5 outcomes. In addition, they
examined the 4 dimensions of political skill and found that the networking ability dimen-
sion dominates the relations with the examined outcomes. The authors discuss practical
implications, limitations, and directions for future research.
Keywords: career satisfaction, career success, political skill

THE TOPIC OF CAREER SUCCESS HAS ATTRACTED considerable atten-

tion in the organizational sciences, with many scholars attempting to uncover
individual and organizational predictors. In a recent meta-analysis, research-
ers were able to condense the predictors of career success into four categories:
human capital, organizational sponsorship, sociodemographic status, and stable
individual differences (Ng, Eby, Sorensen, & Feldman, 2005). This meta-analy-
sis revealed that the human capital category has received the most empirical
attention by scholars, whereas the stable individual differences category seems
to have received the least amount of empirical scrutiny thus far. Surprisingly, a
variable that appears to share a positive connection to career outcomes but has yet

Address correspondence to Samuel Y. Todd, Georgia Southern University, Sport Manage-

ment Program Director, Hollis 1104, PO Box 8077, Statesboro, GA 30460-8077, USA;
sytodd@georgiasouthern.edu (e-mail).

279
 280 The Journal of Social Psychology

to generate much empirical attention is political knowledge. Of the studies that

have been performed, the cumulative findings have shown political influence or
political knowledge to be related to career success (Judge & Bretz, 1994; Seibert,
Kraimer, & Crant, 2001) and compensation processes (Kipnis & Schmidt, 1988).
Moreover, Seibert and colleagues demonstrated proactive personality, which has
been shown to be related to political knowledge, to be an important antecedent
of career success. That is, some individuals were better at advancing their careers
actively by taking initiative to improve current circumstances. These “skills”
or enduring behaviors enable them to acquire information regarding organiza-
tional processes represented by formal and informal relationships. The concept of
political skill (Ferris, Davidson, & Perrewé, 2005) captures this intentionality or
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purposive achievement of personal organizational goals. Political skill is defined

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 or organizational
objectives (Ahearn, Ferris, Hochwarter, Douglas, & Ammeter, 2004; Ferris,
Treadway, et al., 2005; Perrewé, Zellars, Ferris, Kacmar, & Ralston, 2004).
Political skill represents the ability to change one’s situation by influencing
others at work with the overall objective of attaining valued goals from the situ-
ation (Ferris et al., 2007). Scholars suggest that politically skilled individuals are
those who excel in networking ability, demonstrate apparent sincerity, are able to
influence others interpersonally, and are socially astute (Ferris, Davidson, et al.,
2005). Moreover, scholars report that these political skills influence a number of
outcomes, including the role overload and strain relationship (Perrewé et al., 2005),
leader effectiveness (Douglas & Ammeter, 2004), team performance (Ahearn et
al., 2004), and the relation between role conflict and strain (Perrewé et al., 2004).
Though the definition suggests a possible connection between political skill and
career advancement, research has yet to establish these connections. To fill this
void, we use social influence theory (Levy, Collins, & Nail, 1998) and Greenberger
and Strasser’s (1986) model of personal control to advance these associations. Thus,
our first purpose was to extend the nomological network related to political skill by
theoretically predicting and examining its relation with five career outcomes (total
compensation, total promotions, career satisfaction, life satisfaction, and perceived
external mobility). These outcomes cover a wide range and in total should provide
a strong test of the associations with political skill.
Additionally, we wanted to extend research on political skill by examin-
ing the differential impact of the subdimensions of political skill on these same
career outcomes. To date, the large majority of researchers on political skill have
considered only the impact of the overall construct (i.e., political skill as a uni-
dimensional construct). However, given that political skill is a theoretically and
empirically multidimensional construct (Ferris, Treadway, et al., 2005), some
dimensions of the political skill construct may be more salient in differentially
predicting the various career outcomes. Thus, we seek to not only establish the
predictive validity of the overall political skill construct on career outcomes, but
 Todd, Harris, Harris, & Wheeler 281

also to examine the relations between the subdimensions on career outcomes.

Therefore, the second purpose of this study is to determine the predictive validity
of the political skill subdimensions on the five career outcomes.

Career Success

Career success scholars define career success as the sum of accumulated

positive psychological experiences one gathers as a result of work (Ng et al.,
2005; Seibert, Crant, & Kraimer, 1999). Scholars have used various approaches
to measure career success, including both objective indicators, such as salary
and promotions, and subjective measures, such as career and life satisfaction
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(Ng et al.). Recently, Ng and colleagues reported meta-analytic findings of

career success by summarizing the effects of more than 26 predictors upon
career success. These predictors were combined into the four categories of
human capital, organizational sponsorship, sociodemographic status, and stable
individual differences. The number of studies they examined in each category
varied depending on the predictor and the outcome, but generally ranged from
2 to 24. Human capital variables refer to an individual’s educational, personal,
and professional experiences, and they consisted of variables like tenure, hours
worked, educational level, and political knowledge and skills. The organization-
al sponsorship category refers to the special assistance that organizations offer
to employees to facilitate their career success and included constructs such as
supervisor support, training, and skill development opportunities. Sociodemo-
graphic variables reflected individuals’ social and demographic backgrounds
and included gender, race, and marital status. Last, the category of individual
differences consisted of variables related to personality factors, such as locus
of control and the Big Five personality factors. It should be noted that, given
these categories reflective of previous research, not all career success can be
directly controlled by the individual, as some of it is circumstantial and other
parts may be controlled by the organization. For example, employees who work
in union environments often have little to no control over many aspects of their
career success because they are more determined by seniority as opposed to
performance or the impact of political skill.
Findings from the meta-analysis suggested that the impact of the variables
differed depending upon the outcome variable of interest. In the present study,
we chose to highlight the impact of a previously unexamined construct, political
skill, on career success. Political skill is a human capital variable that previous
research (e.g., Seibert et al., 2001) and theoretical discussions (e.g., Ferris et al.,
2007) have suggested will likely exhibit a strong impact on career success. We
must acknowledge that although we are going to examine political skill, a variable
that has yet to be examined for its relation with career success, a large number
of variables have previously been shown to be related to and have considerable
impacts on the career success of individuals.
 282 The Journal of Social Psychology

Findings from a study by Dix and Savickas (1995) also led us to believe
that political skill will have a strong impact on career success. Dix and Savickas
sought to understand what caused employees to succeed as they moved through
the various stages of a career (these are referred to as coping mechanisms).
Employees reported items such as making quality contacts with people in the
organization, being honest, listening to advice, enjoying people, listening often,
and complimenting coworkers, among other things, as responses that they used
to succeed in their careers. As we discuss in the following section, these items
are similar to the construct of political skill.
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Political Skill

The concept of political skill emanates from the work of Pfeffer (1981) and
Mintzberg (1983), who suggested that organizations are political in nature and for
one to be successful, certain social skills are vitally important. Drawing on these
works, Ferris and colleagues specified a political skill construct, which measured
“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” (Ferris, Treadway, et al., 2005, p. 127). Politically skilled individuals
have the ability to read situational requirements in organizations and altering their
social presentation in ways that impact others. They appear to be sincere in their
approach, even though their sincerity may mask ulterior motives. They are socially
astute and possess a high level of self-awareness. They are subtly able to influence
others with their personal style. They develop diverse networks of people that they
use for personal gain (Ferris, Davidson, et al., 2005). In terms of how people acquire
these skills, there are certain aspects of political skill that can be more dispositional
in nature (such as interpersonal influence), but there are other dimensions (e.g.,
networking ability) that can be developed and learned and that enable an individual
to better cope with his or her work environment (Ferris, Treadway, et al.).
Generally, the concept of political skill would fit into the category of “social
effectiveness” in organizations. This category of constructs is broad and includes
variables related to functioning well in interpersonal situations. Ferris, Perrewé, and
Douglas (2002) reviewed this stream of literature and identified several constructs
in this category, including social intelligence, practical intelligence, self-monitor-
ing, social skill, political skill, and social competence, suggesting that although they
may be related in certain ways, they are all distinct constructs. The list of constructs
from Ferris et al. is by no means complete, as other variables including social per-
suasion, social acumen, and emotional intelligence are related. However, one thing
that differentiates political skill from these related variables is the fact that it refers
specifically to social understanding in workplace interactions. In addition, previous
research has shown political skill to be empirically distinct from other social effec-
tiveness constructs (Ferris, Treadway, et al., 2005) and to be the strongest predictor
of job performance (Semadar, Robins, & Ferris, 2006).
 Todd, Harris, Harris, & Wheeler 283

The majority of the extant literature on political skill has examined the
impact that political skill has on other relationships of interest; that is, the role of
political skill as a moderating variable (Harris, Kacmar, Zivnuska, & Shaw, 2007;
Perrewé et al., 2004; Perrewé et al., 2005). These studies have been insightful and
have shown the powerful moderating effects of political skill. However, in the
present study, we sought to examine the direct relations between political skill
and a number of career outcomes. In so doing, we hoped to extend the research
and the nomological network related to political skill.
For the theoretical explanation of why political skill would influence career
outcomes, we now turn to social influence theory (Levy et al., 1998) and Green-
berger and Strasser’s (1986) model of personal control. Social influence theory,
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which is one of the most studied theories in social psychology (Levy et al.), is
another theoretical framework for understanding the effects of political skill. Using
social influence theory, researchers try to understand how individuals use their
social influence to achieve desired outcomes. In the work context, individuals often
want to influence others to attain desired roles, assignments, and rewards (Judge &
Bretz, 1994). We suggest, and discuss in the following sections, that political skill is
a variable that equips those individuals who are high in it to better understand inter-
actions and use that understanding to influence social outcomes in the workplace.
Greenberger and Strasser (1986) explain personal control to be “a psycho-
logical construct reflecting an individual’s beliefs, at a given point in time, in his
or her ability to effect a change, in a desired direction, on the environment” (p.
165). Thus, using their model, researchers assumed that employees desire con-
trol and actively pursue opportunities for control in organizations. Their model
focuses on the ratio between the control desired and the control possessed that
employees constantly monitor and evaluate. When the control desired is greater
than the control possessed, the model predicts that an imbalance will occur, and
the employee begins to react in order to restore balance to the ratio. In order to
alleviate this imbalance, employees can use cognitive and behavioral responses to
rebalance the ratio in an acceptable manner. We suggest that political skill, which
consists of cognitive and behavioral components, allows employees to rebalance
the ratio. For instance, it is possible that an employee would seek to establish
new social networks at work or attempt to influence a person interpersonally after
concluding that he or she needed more control over his or her environment. Thus,
political skill represents an ability that employees can use to rebalance the ratio
and achieve a state of homeostasis.

Hypotheses Development

In deriving our hypotheses, we first turned to social influence theory (Levy

et al., 1998), which suggests that certain influence behaviors are undertaken by
employees with the goal of positive outcomes (e.g., compensation, performance
appraisals, promotions). However, not all individuals possess the requisite skills
 284 The Journal of Social Psychology

to effectively influence others. We suggest political skill is an ability that enables

individuals to more effectively influence others.
Empirical research supports our theoretical arguments. For example, Harris
et al. (2007) reported that those employees who were high in political skill were
seen as better performers when engaging in influence tactics when compared with
those who were low in political skill. These findings suggest that impression man-
agement tactics alone are not sufficient to achieve successful outcomes, but need
to be combined with high levels of political skills. In this sense, political skill is
a regulator that helps control the impact of impression management tactics upon
others’ perceptions by masking the intentionality of the behaviors that appear to
be sincere. Political skill provides individuals with the requisite knowledge and
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ability to read others (Ferris, Treadway, et al., 2005) and, more importantly, to
use this information to help achieve valued goals.
Similarly, Treadway et al. (2007) reported a significant role of political skill
in this process. Their findings suggested that employees high in political skill
were able to use ingratiation tactics directed at their supervisors without being
noticed. That is, ingratiation tactics used by employees high in political skill were
often not interpreted by supervisors as ingratiatory, but honest and sincere inter-
personal behavior. Given that those employees who are high in political skill are
expected to more effectively use influence tactics aimed at others and that previ-
ous research has suggested influence tactics do improve employment outcomes
(Gordon, 1996; Higgins, Judge, & Ferris, 2003), we expected political skill to
have a positive association with compensation and promotions. In addition, social
influence theory suggests that those employees who are better at influencing oth-
ers will ultimately garner rewards (e.g., compensation and promotions) at higher
levels than will those who are less well equipped.
Hypothesis 1 (H1): Political skill will be positively related to total compen-
sation.
H2: Political skill will be positively related to total promotions.
We also expected political skill to influence what some scholars refer to
as subjective career success. The two forms of subjective career success we
examined in this study are career satisfaction and life satisfaction. Employees
who are able to build effective networks, influence others interpersonally, appear
sincere in their approaches, and excel in social astuteness would ostensibly get
the things they seek in jobs and in life (Ferris, Davidson, et al., 2005; Ferris,
Treadway, et al., 2005). Thus, those individuals who are more politically skilled
are likely to be more satisfied in their careers and in life than are those who are
less politically skilled.
Social influence theory (Levy et al., 1998) leads researchers to believe that
those individuals who are politically skilled are better able to influence others
to achieve desired outcomes and goals than are those who are not politically
skilled. Social influence theory suggests that individuals strive to develop and
 Todd, Harris, Harris, & Wheeler 285

preserve meaningful social relationships (Cialdini & Goldstein, 2004). Further,

individuals who are better at maintaining high-quality workplace relationships
are more likely to be satisfied with their careers and lives in general. Political skill
is a variable that will aid employees in developing and preserving relationships.
Those employees who are politically skilled are able to influence others, appear
to be sincere, conduct themselves in ways that are socially astute, and better
develop networks (Ferris, Davidson, et al., 2005), all of which are important in
developing social relationships and which ultimately are related to higher career
and life satisfaction.
In addition, Greenberger and Strasser’s (1986) model of personal control
suggests that individuals are active in filling the gap between the control they
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desire in a job and the control they possess. The model suggests that after an
employee makes this initial calculation of this ratio between control desired and
possessed, he or she will use cognitive and behavioral responses as a direct reac-
tion to the imbalance until the ratio becomes balanced. Using this theory as a
backdrop, Kim, Cable, and Kim (2005) suggested that employees actively sought
to frame their work environment in positive terms to improve the connection
between the firm’s socialization and their own perceived fit with the firm. That is,
employees who actively interpreted events like common messages and structure
in organizations in positive ways felt like they fit more with the company, or in
the language of the theory, had more control over the situation. In the framework
of the personal control model, these employees desired more control over the
relation between socialization tactics and their perceived fit, so they actively
chose to reframe the socialization tactics of the firm in a positive light to achieve
the state of homeostasis.
Similarly, we suggest that employees high in political skill will report higher
levels of career satisfaction and life satisfaction because if they suspect unaccept-
able levels in either of those outcomes, they will actively incorporate political
skills to achieve the desired balance. In this sense, we would suggest that an
employee who perceives a less than optimal career satisfaction (or life satisfac-
tion) might seek to incorporate political skills, such as influencing others at work
and establishing larger networks, to change their assessment of the outcome.
In this scenario, they would be actively seeking to balance the ratio of control
desired over control possessed. Thus we predicted the following:
H3: Political skill will be positively related to career satisfaction.
H4: Political skill will be positively related to life satisfaction.
Some scholars have suggested that political skill produces an increased
sense of self-confidence because politically skilled individuals are better able
to control their interpersonal interactions in social environments (Ferris et al.,
2007). In fact, a recent conceptualization of political skill postulates control as
one primary factor determining the construct (Ferris et al.). Thus, it seems that
individuals who are high in political skill display confidence in their ability to
 286 The Journal of Social Psychology

alter others’ perceptions of them and in the process achieve their desired ends
with utmost certainty. In a sense, we believe this confidence would transfer to
an individual’s belief that he or she is able to adapt to multiple environments
with the requisite social skills that define political skill. Armed with this con-
fidence, we believe politically skilled individuals will perceive their external
marketability to be high because they have the necessary skills to control many
of their work-related outcomes by virtue of their interpersonal skills (Ferris,
Davidson, et al., 2005).
Social influence theory (Levy et al., 1998) also leads us to believe that
political skill will be positively associated with perceptions of being marketable
outside of the organization. Levy and colleagues suggested four interpersonal
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influence distinctions that aid in evaluating social influence behaviors: the level
of cognitive processing, the perceived intentionality, relative social status, and
direction of change. We suggest that employees who incorporate political skills
such as networking ability, social astuteness, interpersonal influence, and appar-
ent sincerity will curry more favor with outsiders and generate positive feelings
that transfer to their perceived marketability. In this sense, the behaviors could be
both consciously and unconsciously, intentional or unintentional, done in either
an upward or downward fashion, and with the desire to enact change in one’s
perceptions. Thus, we expected the following:
H5: Political skill will be positively related to perceived external marketability.

Political Skill Dimensions and Career Outcomes

Although we expected political skill to be positively related to the career

outcomes of compensation, promotions, career and life satisfaction, and per-
ceived external marketability, we were also interested in the impact of the four
dimensions of political skill: networking ability, interpersonal influence, social
astuteness, and apparent sincerity (Ferris, Treadway, et al., 2005). Networking
ability refers to the ability develop “friendships and build strong beneficial alli-
ances and coalitions” (Ferris, Treadway, et al., p. 129). Individuals who are high
in interpersonal influence have the ability to adjust their behaviors to the changing
environmental demands with the goal of eliciting desired responses from others.
Social astuteness refers to the ability to “comprehend social interactions, and
accurately interpret their behavior, as well as that of others, in social settings”
(Ferris, Treadway, et al., p. 129). Last, apparent sincerity refers to the ability to
appear honest, authentic, genuine, and sincere, all of which help to avoid the
suspicion by others of an ulterior motive.
At this time, little is known concerning the differential impacts of the
dimensions. Thus, there is an unanswered question related to whether the
dimensions have the same predictive abilities, whether they are best viewed
as lower order constructs that only have predictive power when summed to
 Todd, Harris, Harris, & Wheeler 287

a higher order variable, or whether one or more dimensions dominate the

associations with career outcomes.
Judge and Bretz (1994) suggested that an important explanatory factor
in determining if particular influence strategies are effective in influencing
career outcomes is the effect that influence behaviors have on liking.
They found influence behaviors that increase liking (e.g. ingratiation) to
positively affect career success, whereas influence tactics that decreased
liking (e.g. self-promotion) were found to negatively affect career success.
One could argue, given the four established dimensions of political skill,
that all of the dimensions, in some way, positively increase affect. An
individual high in interpersonal influence would be expected to be liked
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more than one lower in interpersonal influence. An employee who possesses

a high degree of networking ability would be expected to be liked by others.
One skilled in social astuteness would know how to present him- or herself
in a positive fashion and, thus, be more liked. Last, those high in apparent
sincerity appear to be sincere in their interpersonal interactions and would
be expected to be well liked.
However, in terms of predicting career success, although there is evidence
that all of the dimensions of political skill may be important, there is reason
to believe that the networking ability subdimension is the most important
(Thompson, 2005). In particular, social influence theory (Levy et al., 1998)
suggests that the ability to influence others in social situations will be of
particular importance. Ferris, Treadway, et al. (2005) stated that networking
ability would be related to influence and the resulting career success because
of the alliances, connections, and control over social capital that those high in
networking ability have. Their empirical findings supported this notion as net-
working ability was more strongly related to the outcomes of upward appeal,
coalitions, and assertiveness than were the other political skill subdimensions.
In addition, evidence from other research (e.g., Forret & Dougherty, 2004) has
shown networking ability to be an especially important predictor of career suc-
cess. For example, Thompson theoretically predicted and empirically found that
individuals who are proficient at networking ability develop social networks
that lead to better outcomes because these individuals have additional resources
available (via their social networks) to pursue their career goals and objectives.
Thus, although previously unexamined, there is ample evidence to suggest that
networking ability will exhibit a stronger association with the career outcomes
than will the other subdimensions. As a result, we expected the following:

H6: Networking ability will be more strongly related to the career outcomes
(a) total compensation, (b) total promotion, (c) career satisfaction, (d) life
satisfaction, and (f) perceived marketability than will the other political
skill subdimensions of interpersonal influence, social astuteness, and
apparent sincerity.
 288 The Journal of Social Psychology

Method

Sample and Procedure

Surveys were mailed to 2,000 randomly chosen alumni from a list of gradu-
ates from the past 40 years at a private midwestern university in the United States.
The survey informed alumni that the purpose of the questionnaire was to gather
information on workplace attitudes and outcomes, that their responses would be
anonymous, and that they could return their completed surveys in prepaid enve-
lopes. We received 333 surveys (16.7% response rate), 142 of which were not
usable because some respondents provided incomplete data (the biggest reason
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surveys were eliminated), some were employed by very small businesses (only
one or two people), and some had been employed for short periods of time. After
using listwise deletion to eliminate surveys, the resulting usable sample size was
191 (9.6% response rate). Although this usable response rate was low, it was in
line with established norms regarding alumni survey sampling (e.g., Seibert et
al., 1999). Also, because of our reliance on the alumni database, we were unable
to target only those individuals who were employed, even though our survey was
only applicable to this subset of graduates. Thus, our response rate was conserva-
tive because it did not take into account those alumni who were either voluntarily
or involuntarily unemployed (Eby, Butts, & Lockwood, 2003). Furthermore, we
suspected that our response rate would have been higher, but we were forced to
rely on the mailing lists provided by the university’s alumni office, and a large
number of mailed surveys were returned unopened because of incorrect (likely
outdated) mailing addresses. In light of this issue, we did not believe that sending
a second wave of surveys to this same sampling frame would have substantially
increased our usable sample response rate. To assess whether any systematic
response biases occurred because of demographic variable between respondents
and nonrespondents, we asked the alumni office about the representativeness of
our sample. The alumni office informed us that in terms of demographics (e.g.,
age, gender), human capital variables (e.g., education, tenure), and jobs (indus-
tries, titles), our respondents were similar to the nonrespondents.
Our sample comprised 53% men and 47% women. The mean age of respon-
dents was 47.71 (SD = 11.12) years and the mean organizational tenure was 13.51
(SD = 10.44) years. Because respondents were university graduates, each had
received at least an undergraduate degree, with a considerable number having
pursued graduate studies (e.g., master’s program, professional degrees includ-
ing medical and law school, doctorate). Because the university was located in
the Midwest, it is not surprising that the majority of our respondents worked in
that area. However, we had respondents who lived in all geographic regions of
the United States. The occupations of our respondents varied considerably, with
participants indicating they were engineers, accountants, teachers, professors,
secretaries, administrators, middle managers, executives, and CEOs.
 Todd, Harris, Harris, & Wheeler 289

Measures

Unless otherwise stated, responses to all of the items in our survey were recorded
on 5-point Likert-type scales ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree).
Scales were coded such that high values represented high levels of the constructs.
Political skill. We used the 18-item (α = .93) scale from Ferris, Treadway,
et al. (2005) to measure participants’ perceived levels of political skill. The full
18-item scale is provided in the Appendix. Ferris, Treadway, et al. discussed how
this scale can be used as an 18-item global measure, or any of the four dimensions
can be examined as standalone constructs. To that note, previous researchers have
shown the efficacy of using both the full 18-item global scale (Harvey, Harris,
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Harris, & Wheeler, 2007; Hochwarter et al., 2007; Semadar et al., 2006) as well
as the dimensions by themselves (Thompson, 2005). The 6-item networking abil-
ity dimension had an alpha reliability of .90, the 4-item interpersonal influence
dimension had an alpha reliability of .89, the 5-item social astuteness dimension
had an alpha reliability of .87, and the 3-item apparent sincerity dimension had
an alpha reliability of .78.
Total compensation. Total compensation was measured with the three-item
scale from Forret and Dougherty’s (2004) study. The three questions were “How
much did you receive last year in annual salary?” “How much (if any) did you
receive in commission income last year?” and “How much (if any) did you receive
in supplementary income (e.g., stock options, profit-sharing, and bonuses)?”
Although this measure is a self-report, we were confident in the validity of this
measure because self-reports of income have been shown to correlate highly with
company records (Dreher, 1977). Also, previous studies on numerous topics (e.g.,
compensation, performance appraisals [PAs]) have shown that individuals are
less likely to provide false information when the information is factual and easily
accessed by the respondents (e.g., in copies of their paychecks, PAs in their files
Bryne, Stoner, Thompson, & Hochwarter, 2005; Judge & Bretz, 1994).
Total promotions. We measured total promotions with two items: “How
many promotions have you received with your current employer?” and “How
many promotions have you received from employers other than your current
employer?” We added together the total number of promotions to arrive at an
overall number of promotions (e.g., Ng et al., 2005; Seibert et al., 1999).
Career satisfaction. We measured career satisfaction with Greenhaus, Para-
suraman, and Wormley’s (1990) five-item scale (α = .80). This scale has been
examined in other studies and shown to have similarly high reliability estimates
(e.g., Bartley, Judge, & Judge, 2007; Burke, 2001; Sagas & Cunningham, 2004).
This scale taps into a person’s overall satisfaction with his or her career; a sample
item is “I am satisfied with the success that I have achieved in my career.”
Life satisfaction. We measured life satisfaction with the five-item scale (α =
.89) from Diener, Emmons, Larsen, and Griffin (1985), which was later used in
a seminal piece by Judge and Bretz (1994). This scale measures an individual’s
 290 The Journal of Social Psychology

overall satisfaction with his or her life, thoughts about if a person’s life is ideal
or excellent, and how much (if at all) an individual would change if his or her
life was to be lived again. This measure has been used in many studies that have
found high reliability estimates similar to ours (e.g., Librán, 2006; Valkenburg &
Peter, 2007). A sample item is “I am satisfied with my life.”
Perceived external marketability. We measured perceived external market-
ability with Eby et al.’s (2003) three-item scale (α = .74). A sample item is “I
could easily obtain a comparable job with another employer.”
Control variables. We controlled for gender (1 = women , 2 = men), organiza-
tional tenure (measured in years), marital status (1 = unmarried, 2 = married), age
(measured in years), race (1 = Caucasian, 2 = non-White), highest level of education
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(1 = bachelor’s degree, 2 = master’s degree, 3 = professional degree), and industry

tenure (measured in years). We controlled for these variables as previous research
has shown them to exhibit strong influences on political skill, as well a number of
the dependent variables in our study (Judge & Bretz, 1994; Perrewé & Nelson, 2004;
Seibert et al., 1999). For example, age, industry tenure, and organizational tenure
would logically be expected and empirically shown to be positively related to total
compensation and total promotions (e.g., Judge & Bretz; Seibert et al.).

TABLE 1. Means, Standard Deviations, and Intercorrelations of Study

Variables (N = 191)

Variable M SD 1 2 3 4 5

1. PS: full 18-item scale 3.76 0.55 —

2. PS: networking ability 3.34 0.81 .87 —
3. PS: interpersonal influence 4.04 0.61 .81 .58 —
4. PS: social astuteness 3.67 0.68 .83 .54 .63 —
5. PS: apparent sincerity 4.39 0.49 .63 .40 .49 .50 —
6. Total compensation 115K 266K .08 .14 .04 –.03 .07
7. Total promotions 4.17 3.40 .20 .25 .16 .12 .03
8. Career satisfaction 3.79 0.70 .39 .41 .22 .25 .28
9. Life satisfaction 3.77 0.76 .34 .34 .20 .20 .28
10. Perceived external mobility 3.48 0.82 .20 .22 .12 .15 .12
11. Gender 1.53 0.50 –.04 .02 –.06 –.11 –.03
12. Organizational tenure 13.51 10.44 –.03 –.02 –.03 –.05 –.03
13. Marital status 1.80 0.42 –.08 –.07 –.03 –.11 –.04
14. Age 47.71 11.12 .11 .11 .08 .09 .06
15. Race 1.05 0.22 –.03 –.02 –.01 –.02 –.06
16. Education 1.62 0.64 .10 .14 .07 .00 .03
17. Industry tenure 19.96 11.09 .10 .11 .06 .07 .03

Note. PS = political skill. Correlations greater than .12 are significant at p < .05; correlations
greater than .16 are significant at p < .01.
 Todd, Harris, Harris, & Wheeler 291

Analysis

We tested our hypotheses using hierarchical regression analyses. This ana-

lytical procedure included two steps. First, we entered the control variables of
gender, organizational tenure, marital status, age, race, education, and industry
tenure. Second, we entered either the full 18-item political skill term or the four
different dimensions that comprise the multidimensional construct.

Results

Table 1 provides the means, standard deviations, and intercorrelations among

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the study variables. Of note is the finding that only one of the correlations among
the five outcome variables was greater than .26 (career and life satisfaction were
correlated at .57). These results support the premise of examining all five conse-
quences and show that although these variables are somewhat related, they are
unique both conceptually and empirically. Further, by examining five dependent
variables, we are better able to add to the nomological network and provide tentative
evidence of the generalizability or boundary conditions of the impact of political

6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16

—
.07 —
.19 .18 —
.12 .16 .57 —
.03 .06 .28 .21 —
.19 .26 –.01 –.05 –.12 —
.09 .11 –.02 –.06 –.13 .27 —
.09 .05 .06 .16 –.18 .11 .13 —
–.02 .30 .15 .04 –.11 .20 .41 .07 —
–.02 .08 –.02 .04 –.00 .00 .01 –.04 –.03 —
–.07 –.01 .15 .01 .03 –.09 .06 –.01 .13 .07 —
.05 .17 .16 –.01 –.08 .33 .58 .11 .62 .04 .17
 292 The Journal of Social Psychology

skill when predicting multiple variables, not just one or two outcomes. In addition,
the political skill dimensions were significantly related (between .40 and .63), which
was high, but was to be expected and is in line with previous studies examining the
dimensions (Ferris, Davidson, et al., 2005; Ferris, Treadway, et al., 2005). As can
be seen, the overall political skill variable was significantly related to four out of
the five outcomes, whereas the dimensions were significantly related to anywhere
between three to five of the outcomes. However, because the relatively high cor-
relations were between the political skill dimensions, there were concerns about
multicollinearity. Thus, we ran multicollinearity statistics, which we have presented
in Table 2. As can be seen, none of the tolerances were at or below .10, in fact the
lowest was .50. Also, the highest variance inflation factor statistic was 2.00, which is
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well below the 10.00 level at which the variance inflation factor becomes a concern.
These findings provide confidence that multicollinearity was not a problem in this
study and allowed us to proceed to our hierarchical regression analyses.
Table 3 provides the results of our hierarchical regression analyses. In support
of our choice of control variables, a number of them were significantly related
to our outcome variables. In particular, gender was related to both total compen-
sation and promotions, organizational tenure was related to career satisfaction,
marital status was related to life satisfaction and perceived external mobility, age
was related to total promotions, and education was related to career satisfaction.
These associations are in line with previous research (Forret & Dougherty, 2004;
Harvey et al., 2007; Judge & Bretz, 1994; Perrewé & Nelson, 2004; Seibert et
al., 1999) and show the considerable impact of these demographic variables on
the outcomes in this study, thus supporting our theoretical inclusion of these
control variables.
We provide the results for our hypotheses in Table 3. We will begin our
discussion with the results for the overall political skill variable (all 18 items
combined; Ferris, Treadway, et al., 2005). As can be seen, the overall political
skill variable was nonsignificantly associated with total compensation (β = .10,
p > .10). This result fails to provide support for H1. The relation between the
overall political skill variable and total promotions was positive and significant
(β = .20, p < .01), thus providing support for H2. The association between overall
political skill and career satisfaction was also positive and significant (β = .36,
p < .01). This finding supports H3. The overall political skill variable was also
positively and significantly related to life satisfaction (β = .35, p < .01). Thus,
H4 was supported. The final result for the overall political skill variable shows
that it was positively and significantly related to perceived external mobility (β
= .18, p < .01), which supports H5. In total, these results show that the overall
political skill variable was significantly related to four of the five outcomes we
examined in this study.
Next we turn our focus to the results for the dimensions of political skill,
which we also present in Table 3. These regression analyses show that the inter-
personal influence and social astuteness dimensions were not significantly related
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TABLE 2. Multicollinearity Analyses for Study Variables

DV: total DV: total DV: career DV: life DV: perceived
compensation promotions satisfaction satisfaction external mobility
Variable Tolerance VIF Tolerance VIF Tolerance VIF Tolerance VIF Tolerance VIF

PS: networking ability 0.63 1.59 0.65 1.54 0.61 1.63 0.61 1.63 0.62 1.61
PS: interpersonal influence 0.51 1.96 0.51 1.96 0.50 2.00 0.50 2.00 0.51 1.98
PS: social astuteness 0.53 1.89 0.53 1.90 0.53 1.91 0.52 1.90 0.53 1.89
PS: apparent sincerity 0.70 1.42 0.73 1.37 0.70 1.42 0.71 1.42 0.70 1.43

Note. PS = political skill; DV = dependent variable; VIF = variance inflation factor.

Todd, Harris, Harris, & Wheeler
293
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294

TABLE 3. Hierarchical Regression Analyses of Hypothesized Effects (N = 191)

DV: total DV: total DV: career DV: life DV: perceived
compensation promotions satisfaction satisfaction external mobility
Variable β β β β β β β β β β

Step 1
Gender .18* .15* .23** .22** –.03 –.03 –.01 –.04 –.07 –.08
Organizational tenure .08 .08 –.00 .00 –.16* –.13+ –.06 –.06 –.07 –.07
Marital status .07 .07 .02 .02 .05 .09 .18** .18** –.15* –.15*
The Journal of Social Psychology

Age –.10 –.10 .38** .39** .11 .10 .10 .10 –.13 –.13
Race –.01 –.01 .06 .06 –.03 –.01 .07 .08 –.00 .00
Education –.03 –.05 –.04 –.05 .13* .09 .01 –.00 .03 .02
Industry tenure .01 .01 –.15 –.17+ .18+ .12 –.08 –.08 .03 .03
Step 2
Political skill (18 items) .10 .20** .36** .35** .18**
PS: networking ability .20* .23** .33** .31** .23**
PS: interpersonal influence –.01 .03 –.07 –.06 –.06
PS: social astuteness –.14 .07 .02 –.01 –.01
PS: apparent sincerity .08 –.14† .17* .22** .05
R2 .06 .08 .20 .22 .20 .23 .16 .20 .10 .11
F (dfs = 8, 182) 1.66 6.10** 7.66** 5.40** 3.29**
F (dfs = 11, 179) 1.76+ 5.15** 6.64** 5.79** 2.78**

Note. PS = political skill; DV= dependent variable. There are two columns under each outcome variable. The analysis represented by the left column under
each outcome variable includes the entire political skill construct in Step 1; the analysis in the right column uses the four dimensions of political skill in Step 2.
†
p < .10. *p < .05. **p < .01.
 Todd, Harris, Harris, & Wheeler 295

to any of the five career-related outcomes we examined. The apparent sincerity

dimension was significantly related to both career (β = .17, p < .05) and life satis-
faction (β = .22, p < .01), and moderately related to total promotions (β = .14, p <
.10). However, the dimension that had the strongest associations was networking
ability, which was significantly related to all five outcome variables. In particular,
networking ability was positively and significantly related to total compensation
(β = .20, p < .05), total promotions (β = .23, p < .01), career satisfaction (β = .33,
p < .01), life satisfaction (β = .31, p < .01), and perceived external mobility (β =
.23, p < .01). In total, these results support H6. To further examine the associations
between the political skill dimensions and the outcomes examined in this study,
we ran semipartial correlations. We found that if we controlled for the network-
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ing ability dimension, the apparent sincerity dimension was associated with the
outcomes at much higher levels than were the social astuteness and interpersonal
influence dimensions.
It is also noteworthy that, as a whole, the networking ability dimension was
more strongly related to the outcomes than was the overall political skill variable.
This elicits the question of whether the associations between political skill and
career-related outcomes are driven by the networking ability dimension. Further,
it may be possible that the networking ability dimension is as, or even more,
powerful a predictor of these outcomes than the overall political skill variable.
We address these points in the following sections.

Discussion

Scholars have noted that individual difference and human capital variables
often have strong influences on career success (e.g., Ng et al., 2005). In particular,
previous researchers have suggested that political knowledge and the social skills
related to succeeding in political environments will play a role (Ferris, Davidson, et
al., 2005). However, to this point, previous research has not examined the associa-
tions between political skill and career-related outcomes (Ferris et al., 2007). On
the basis of personal control (Greenberger & Strasser, 1986) and social influence
theories (Levy et al., 1998), we viewed political skill as a skill that employees use
to achieve desired outcomes in the form of career benefits. Thus, we set out to test
the effect of political skill on the five career-related outcomes of total compensation,
total promotions, perceived career success, life satisfaction, and perceived external
mobility. Our findings indicated that the overall political skill construct was signifi-
cantly related to all of the career outcomes except total compensation.
Levy et al. (1998) presented a reformulation of social influence theory in the
form of a decision tree that attempted to capture the greatest number of types of
social influence in the literature. In their framework, there are four main types of
influence distinctions: (a) level of cognitive processing, (b) perceived intentional-
ity, (c) relative social status, and (d) direction of change. The first decision would
be whether the influence is a conscious or unconscious one; next, whether the
 296 The Journal of Social Psychology

intentionality is intentional or unintentional; next, whether social status is high,

low, peer, or orthogonal; last, the direction of change would be assessed as posi-
tive, negative, or orthogonal.
We suggest that political skill is a conscious and intentional attempt at inter-
personal influence that results in positive career-related outcomes. We note that this
conception of political skills is consistent with the findings reported in Seibert et al.
(1999), who demonstrated that proactive personality is an important antecedent of
political knowledge. That is, some individuals were better at advancing their careers
actively by taking initiative to improve current circumstances. These “skills” or
enduring behaviors enable those individuals to acquire information regarding orga-
nizational processes represented by formal and informal relationships.
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On the basis of our findings, we suggest that political skill is a skill inten-
tionally used to achieve personal career goals. Indeed, the very definition of the
construct in the literature suggests its intentionality. In general, political skill is
defined 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
organizational objectives (Ahearn et al., 2004; Ferris, Treadway, et al., 2005;
Perrewé et al., 2004). Our findings show that political skill, which is a skill indi-
viduals intentionally use to help them achieve their career targets, is associated
with five different outcome variables. These results are important because we did
not examine one or two career-related consequences, which are often examined
in research on this area, but we examined five different ones. Thus, our results
extend the nomological network related to political skill and show that the con-
struct is related to a broad range of outcomes. Additionally, the large majority
of the extant research on political skill has examined the variable as a moderator
(Harris et al., 2007; Harvey et al., 2007; Hochwarter et al., 2007; Perrewé et al.,
2004; Perrewé et al., 2005), but our results provide strong evidence that political
skill is also a powerful main effect predictor of a number of important career-
related outcome variables.
Last, one of our goals in the present study was to examine the four dimen-
sions of political skill (Ferris, Davidson, et al., 2005) This is an important next
step in extending the political skill literature as even though Ferris, Treadway,
et al. noted that the dimensions can be investigated separately as standalone
variables, no studies to our knowledge have investigated all four dimensions as
constructs in the same study. Additionally, because the dimensions can be investi-
gated as separate predictors (Thompson, 2005), there is a need to establish which,
if any, of the political skill dimensions are stronger antecedents of career-related
outcomes. Further, it may be that one political skill dimension serves as a stronger
antecedent to one consequence, whereas another dimension is a stronger predictor
of a different outcome. Thus, we hope the present study fills that void and adds
to the cumulative knowledge for each of the dimensions.
Our regression analyses revealed that the networking ability dimension of
political skill was most strongly associated with the five career outcomes we
 Todd, Harris, Harris, & Wheeler 297

examined. It appears that this dimension, in relation to the other dimensions of

interpersonal influence, social astuteness, and apparent sincerity, has the greatest
potential to meaningfully impact career outcomes. As outlined in Table 3, all five
career outcomes were significantly related to the networking ability dimension of
political skill when we examined the political skill dimensions. The next stron-
gest dimension was apparent sincerity, which was significantly related to two
outcomes (career and life satisfaction) and moderately related to another (total
promotions). It is interesting that the interpersonal influence and social astuteness
dimensions were not significantly associated with any of the career outcomes
we examined. These findings are in line with previous research that has shown
the importance of an individual’s networking abilities and behaviors (e.g., Fer-
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ris, Treadway, et al., 2005; Forret & Dougherty, 2004; Podolny & Baron, 1997;
Sparrowe, Liden, Wayne, & Kraimer, 2001).
In this manner, the present study provides initial evidence that the relations
between political skill and career-related outcomes may be largely driven by the
networking ability dimension of political skill. Thus, one may ask if there is a
need to examine the interpersonal influence and social astuteness dimensions.
In addition, because the four dimensions explained more variance in each of the
five outcome variables than did the overall political skill construct, it may be that
examining the dimensions as standalone variables has better predictive validity
and should be used by practitioners and researchers in the future. We discuss this
point in the following section.

Practical Implications

Two practical implications from the present study require discussion. The
first stems from our finding that those who are higher in political skill experi-
enced more positive career outcomes. This result suggests that employees (and
ultimately organizations) may benefit from being able to participate in political
skill training (Ferris, Davidson, et al., 2005). To this point, Ferris, Davidson, et al.
discussed political skill training and argued that if training results in more politi-
cally skilled employees, organizations and the employees in them will experience
a number of positive outcomes. Thus, managers should spend time, effort, and
resources to create and use political skill training programs. In particular, Ferris,
Treadway, et al. discussed a number of different methods for training employees
to improve political skills. They mentioned that lecture-based training was not
very appropriate, as these sessions needed to be hands-on and allow employees
to practice their abilities and receive feedback about them. In addition, manag-
ers need to make every effort to ensure that employees feel comfortable asking
questions and making mistakes. Some of these recommended techniques for
training in political skills include drama-based training, mentoring, behavioral
modeling, videotaped role-playing with feedback, and critique sessions (Ferris,
Treadway, et al.).
 298 The Journal of Social Psychology

The present study also provides tentative evidence that managers may be
able to use the political skill measure as a selection test. Because the importance
of identifying talent in the selection process continues to increase, political skill
may be one such construct that helps to identify those applicants who have “high
potential.” A more illuminating practical implication from this study can be seen
when examining the dimensions that make up the political skill scale. We found
that the overall political skill variable was significantly related to four of our five
possible outcomes (not total compensation), but that the networking ability dimen-
sion was significantly related to all five. This finding is important for employees
and managers alike. Employees should be cognizant of the importance of their
networking skills and should invest time and energy to improve this ability, as well
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as their actual network of employees. From an organizational perspective, there are

often resource limitations placed on managers. If this is the case and managers are
unable to provide training on all aspects of political skill (Ferris, Davidson, et al.,
2005), the results from our study indicate that the dimension of networking ability
training would provide the “biggest bang for the buck,” with the apparent sincerity
dimension being the second most important place where managers should focus
their efforts and resources. Furthermore, if the political skill measure is used as a
selection tool, human resource managers may find that they do not have to use the
full 18 items, but only the 6-item networking ability dimension, thus saving time
for both the applicants and the person(s) scoring the responses.

Limitations

Although the present study makes a contribution to the extant literature

and has definite strengths, there are limitations that should be acknowledged to
properly interpret the study’s results. First, our variables were all self-reported
and collected using the same method, thus causing concerns related to common
method variance (Podsakoff, MacKenzie, Lee, & Podsakoff, 2003). However, we
do not believe that the cross-sectional nature of our design inflated the strength
of observed associations. One reason for this belief is that the intercorrelations
between variables were moderate (Spector, 2006). In addition, attitudes such as
career and life satisfaction are generally thought to form gradually over time,
and they are based on the cumulative history of negative and positive workplace
experiences (e.g., Katz, 1978). Similarly, our total compensation measure, which
we would have liked to have collected as objective data, was provided by respon-
dents. Although this has the potential to lead to distortions, previous researchers
have suggested or found (Judge, Cable, Boudreau, & Bretz, 1995; Podsakoff &
Organ, 1986) that data that a respondent has is factual, and it is verifiable and less
likely to be distorted. For example, Judge et al. found a difference of 1% between
actual and self-reports of salary for a large sample of executives.
Another potential limitation was our sample. First, although our usable
sample size was smaller than we would have liked, the response rate is in line
 Todd, Harris, Harris, & Wheeler 299

with previous norms of published research that uses alumni samples (Seibert
et al., 1999). Perhaps our response rate would have increased with monetary
incentives, but we relied upon alumni affinity toward the university as the
main inducement. Although we view our sample as a strength because the
respondents were from a variety of industries, organizations, and job types,
they all had received a degree from the same college, reported high total
compensation levels, and worked for their organizations for long periods. We
acknowledge that these factors may cause our sample to be viewed as unique
and somewhat limit the generalizability of our results, but we also believe it
unlikely to have influenced our results in a meaningful way. Last, there is the
potential for a reciprocal relationship that we did not test. More specifically, it
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is possible that receiving more promotions or being higher in life satisfaction

actually leads to an individual’s being higher in one or more of the political skill
dimensions. However, theory would predict that our hypotheses best positioned
political skill as an antecedent to these career outcomes.

Suggestions for Future Research

Our findings point to a number of different directions for future research.

First, researchers should examine how the dimensions of political skill are related
to other important variables. In particular, we hope research efforts will examine
consequences related to performance, withdrawal behaviors, and job attitudes.
Also, studies that examine antecedents of the political skill dimensions would help
to extend the nomological network related to the construct (e.g., Liu et al., 2007).
Second, researchers should examine dispositional and situational moderators that
may help to better explain the relations between the political skill dimensions and
the outcomes we examined. It is likely that the importance of networking ability,
apparent sincerity, or any of the other political skill dimensions is contingent
upon the situations that individuals are in or dispositional characteristics they
have. Further, it is possible that certain variables may serve as antecedents of
political skill development. In terms of age, it may be that political skill develops
as a function of an individual’s age. That is, as employees become older and
gain experience working, they may develop or sharpen their political skills. An
interaction between age and political skill may occur, such that older employees
would express greater political skills than would younger employees, which
would benefit older employees in terms of the positive outcomes associated
with political skills. A situational antecedent to political skill development may
be the effect of technology. For example, what is the impact of having access
to and being involved in instant messaging, virtual worlds, or blogging? It may
be that these activities help to increase certain political skill dimensions (e.g.,
networking ability) although they do not enhance, and potentially even decrease,
others (e.g., social astuteness). Therefore, we invite future researchers to examine
dispositional and situational variables as moderators and antecedents of the
 300 The Journal of Social Psychology

relations in our study. Furthermore, variables including leader-member exchange

quality, the job’s need for external relations, political environments, and tasks that
are highly interdependent are likely to change the relations between the political
skill dimensions and career-related outcomes.
Another avenue for future research is to examine other self-regulating con-
structs such as self-monitoring (Kilduff & Day, 1994), emotional intelligence
(Van Rooy & Viswesvaran, 2004), or learning agility (Lombardo & Eichinger,
2000), and their relations with political skill. We wonder how much overlap
exists among these constructs in terms of their predictive validities and the
nomological networks around them. Although political skill is theoretically
distinct, because of its specification of interactions at work as opposed to life in
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general, researchers have found it to be empirically distinct (Ferris, Treadway,

et al., 2005), and when compared with self-monitoring, leadership self-effi-
cacy, and emotional intelligence, the findings showed political skill to be the
strongest predictor of job performance (Semadar et al., 2006), questions still
remain. In particular, how is political skill related to learning agility and what
are the relations between these self-regulating constructs and other important
workplace outcomes?
Another idea for future research relates to the significant correlations
between career–job satisfaction and career success found in this study. These
findings are noteworthy because they contradict a number of empirical stud-
ies in the career development–career counseling literature. Thus, it could be
worth looking into these correlations to determine if there were any reasons or
unusual sample characteristics that resulted in our findings. A fifth and final
suggestion is to examine the political skill dimensions from other perspec-
tives. In this study, we measured self-ratings of political skill. Although these
self-assessments are informative, additional insight as well as relevance to the
workplace would be provided if supervisors, coworkers, subordinates, or even
significant others provided political skill ratings. Also, any studies using a dif-
ferent perspective (e.g., supervisor or coworker) and a self-rating would help
to reveal differences in perceptions and which rating, self or other, is a stronger
predictor of workplace variables.

Conclusion

Our goal in the present study was to investigate the relations between politi-
cal skill (the overall construct and the four dimensions) and five career-related
outcomes. We found that the overall political skill variable was a powerful pre-
dictor, but that the predictive power of this variable was primarily driven by the
networking ability dimension. Although tentative, this study provides initial evi-
dence that the dimensions may be of differential importance, and we hope future
researchers will extend our results by continuing to examine the relations between
the political skill dimensions and important job outcomes.
 Todd, Harris, Harris, & Wheeler 301

AUTHOR NOTES
Samuel Y. Todd is an associate professor at Georgia Southern University. His
research primarily involves political skill and social identities and skills of employees
working for professional sports teams. Kenneth J. Harris is an assistant professor of
management at Indiana University Southeast. His research interests include political
skill, influence behaviors, organizational politics, and leadership-related issues. Ranida
B. Harris is an assistant professor of management information systems at Indiana Uni-
versity Southeast. Her research interests include the effects of computer technologies on
communication, performance, and decision making. Anthony R. Wheeler is an assistant
professor of human resources management in the Schmidt Labor Research Center and the
College of Business Administration at the University of Rhode Island. His research inter-
ests include the influence of HRM practices on person–environment fit and also examining
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issues related to alternative staffing strategies.

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Received June 22, 2007

Accepted February 5, 2008
 304 The Journal of Social Psychology

APPENDIX
Political Skill Items From Ferris, Treadway, et al. (2005)

Networking ability
1. I spend a lot of time and effort at work networking with others.
2. I am good at building relationships with influential people at work.
3. I have developed a large network of colleagues and associates at work whom
I can call on for support when I really need to get things done.
4. At work, I know a lot of important people and am well connected.
5. I spend a lot of time at work developing connections with others.
6. I am good at using my connections and network to make things happen at work.
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Interpersonal influence
1. I am able to make most people feel comfortable and at ease around me.
2. I am able to communicate easily and effectively with others.
3. It is easy for me to develop good rapport with most people.
4. I am good at getting people to like me.
Social astuteness
1. I understand people very well.
2. I am particularly good at sensing the motivations and hidden agendas of others.
3. I have good intuition or savvy about how to present myself to others.
4. I always seem to instinctively know the right things to say or do to influence
others.
5. I pay close attention to people’s facial expressions.
Apparent sincerity
1. When communicating with others, I try to be genuine in what I say and do.
2. It is important that people believe I am sincere in what I say and do.
3. I try to show a genuine interest in other people.