The relationships between career concerns and political tactics in organizations

Abstract

The study examined the relationships between four career concerns (Personal Success, Organizational Involvement, Skill Development and Autonomy) and two categories of political tactics in organizations (Hierarchical Tactics and Networking Tactics) in a sample of management school alumni. Career concerns were not related to the employment of hierarchical tactics but were strongly related to the use of networking tactics. ‘External’ career concerns of personal success and organizational involvement were more strongly related to political behavior than ‘internal’ career concerns of skill development and autonomy. Organization size was significantly related to the use of hierarchical tactics but not to the use of networking tactics. Type of organization structure (mechanistic versus organic) did not have a direct effect on political behavior but moderated the relationships between career concerns and political tactics. These relationships were stronger in organic than in mechanistic organizations.

Consequences of work‐home segmentation or integration: a person‐environment fit perspective

“…would likely not return the survey, as it did not apply to their current circumstance. Previous research that targeted working alumni (see Zanzi, Arthur, & Shamir, 1991 for an example) has received similar or lower response rates (in this example, 21 per cent).…”

The role of political tactics on the organizational context–career success relationship

“…Gould and Penley 1984;Zanzi et al 1991;Fairholm 1993;Judge and Bretz 1994;Zanzi and O'Neill 2001) ascertain that employees can actively manage their careers through informal strategies and tactics that could hasten career progression or secure career objectives. Such behaviors encompass a broad range of general strategies, including networking, consultation, mentoring skill development, self-promotion, and extra-role behaviors (Gould and Penley 1984;Nabi 1999;.…”

“…The second stream is concerned with the nature of actual political behavior, types of tactics and strategies, and their implications for individuals (e.g. Zanzi, Arthur and Shamir 1991;Judge and Bretz 1994;Ferris, Harrell-Cook and Dulebohn 2000). This research field concentrates on how individuals influence their career progression by employing appropriate political action (Nabi 1999).…”

“…Respondents were asked to report the degree to which they had achieved 14 career concerns by using a five-point scoring format ranging from to a very low degree (1) to a very high degree (5). Indicative scale items used to tap each of the four career concern dimensions proposed by Zanzi et al (1991) (i.e. personal success, organizational involvement, skill success, and autonomy development) were 'gaining high prestige and status', 'developing and training others', 'refining technical skills and abilities', 'ability to do the job without supervision', respectively.…”

“…The 14 items proposed by Zanzi et al (1991) were used to capture subjective career success. Respondents were asked to report the degree to which they had achieved 14 career concerns by using a five-point scoring format ranging from to a very low degree (1) to a very high degree (5).…”