Political Skill Construct And Criterion Related Validation A Two Study

Gerald R. Ferris, Gerhard Blickle, Paula B. Schneider, Jochen Kramer, Ingo Zettler, Jutta Solga, D. Noethen, James A. Meurs Research output: Indexed journal article › Article › peer-review

Purpose Political skill is measured with the political skill inventory (PSI), and the construct is composed of four distinct dimensions. Previous validation studies of the PSI found evidence in support of the four-factor structure, but only using self-reports. Furthermore, no efforts have been made to also identify a single, higher-order factor solution through second-order factor analysis. The present research aims to expand on prior work and report on a two-study investigation of both the construct validity and antecedents and consequences of the political skill construct. Design/methodology/approach To test construct validity, Study 1 combined self- and other reports of political skill from 467 employees in a confirmatory factor analysis. Study 2 used longitudinal data from 202 employees to constructively replicate Study 1 results and to test hypotheses regarding the antecedents and consequences of political skill.

Findings The results of Study 1 confirmed both a four-factor and a single higher-order factor solution of the political skill construct, thus supporting our hypothesis. Study 2 constructively replicated the Study 1 factorial validity results, and supported hypotheses regarding the dispositional and developmental experience antecedents, career-related consequences, and mediation of these antecedents and outcomes by political skill. Originality/value These two studies test the construct validity of political skill using both self- and other-reports. Further, this is the first research to test the Ferris et al. conceptualization of political skill, by examining its antecedents, consequences, and mediation of the antecedents-consequences relationships. Research output: Indexed journal article › Article › peer-review

T1 - Political skill construct and criterion-related validation 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... 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. 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... 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... 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. 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. The present research was developed to examine the conceptualization and measurement of the political skill construct and to provide validation evidence for the Political Skill Inventory (PSI). The results of three investigations, involving seven samples, are reported that demonstrate consistency of the factor structure across studies, construct validity, and criterion-related validity of the PSI. As hypothesized, political skill was positively related to self-monitoring, political savvy, and emotional intelligence; negatively related to trait anxiety; and not correlated with general mental ability. Also, the PSI predicted performance ratings of managers in two samples. Implications of these findings and directions for future research are provided.

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... 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.

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