Title:
Routes to organizational influence: the facets of political skill and social network centrality

dc.contributor.advisor Meyer, Rustin
dc.contributor.author Bradshaw, Robert Patrick
dc.contributor.committeeMember DeChurch, Leslie
dc.contributor.committeeMember Kanfer, Ruth
dc.contributor.department Psychology
dc.date.accessioned 2018-08-27T13:26:57Z
dc.date.available 2018-08-27T13:26:57Z
dc.date.created 2015-05
dc.date.issued 2015-02-24
dc.date.submitted May 2015
dc.date.updated 2018-08-27T13:26:57Z
dc.description.abstract Political skill describes an individual’s ability to successfully navigate the political arena of organizations (Ferris et al., 2007). The present study tested whether political skill and its four dimensions (i.e., social astuteness, interpersonal influence, apparent sincerity, and networking ability) are related to individuals’ occupancy of central positions in three types of interrelated organizational social networks (i.e., workflow, communication, and friendship networks). A survey was administered to the employees of a university IT department. From employee self-reports, the three networks were drawn upon 141 employees, and hypotheses were tested with exponential random graph modeling. Findings reveal that political skill is related to high activity (i.e., sending many ties) in all three networks, but only related to high popularity (i.e., receiving many ties) in the friendship network. Findings further reveal nuanced distinctions in which facets of political skill predict which social networks. The patterns of results for networking ability were the same as for the political skill composite score. Findings suggest that politically skilled individuals carefully and strategically measure their level of activity in at-work relationships, and accrue recognition and influence through informal networks.
dc.description.degree M.S.
dc.format.mimetype application/pdf
dc.identifier.uri http://hdl.handle.net/1853/60392
dc.language.iso en_US
dc.publisher Georgia Institute of Technology
dc.subject Political skill
dc.subject Social network analysis
dc.subject Exponential random graph modeling
dc.subject Social effectiveness
dc.title Routes to organizational influence: the facets of political skill and social network centrality
dc.type Text
dc.type.genre Thesis
dspace.entity.type Publication
local.contributor.corporatename College of Sciences
local.contributor.corporatename School of Psychology
relation.isOrgUnitOfPublication 85042be6-2d68-4e07-b384-e1f908fae48a
relation.isOrgUnitOfPublication 768a3cd1-8d73-4d47-b418-0fc859ce897d
thesis.degree.level Masters
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