The influence of leadership on perceptions of organizational politics, job involvement, and organizational commitment

The current research examined the effects of leadership on perceptions of organizational politics and the influence of political perceptions on job involvement and organizational commitment. The research model examined the relationship and predictive strength between the variables of interest, integrating the six-factor, 36-item scale of leadership (Bass & Avolio, 1995); Liden and Maslyn's (1998) 12-item leader-member exchange instrument; the three-factor, 15-item perceptions of organizational politics model (Kacmar & Carlson, 1997); Kanungo's (1982) 10-item job involvement scale; and a 9-item organizational commitment scale (Mowday, Steers, & Porter, 1979). State government employees were surveyed yielding 214 responses concerning their experience of their supervisor's leadership style, their perception of the quality of their relationship with their supervisor, their perception of organizational politics, their level of job involvement, and their level of organizational commitment. The research found that leadership constructs are significant predictors of political perceptions having both positive and negative relationships to the perceptions of organizational politics. Further, consistent with prior studies, perceptions of organizational politics were a significant predictor of, and negatively related to, the outcomes of job involvement and organizational commitment. Discussion of the study and further research directions including implications for management and leadership strategies conclude the study.