How important are political skills for career success? A systematic review and meta-analysis

Abstract

Political skills are an important factor in promoting career success. Although some scholars have paid attention to the relationship between political skills and some dimensions of career success, few have explored a complete framework of career success and its relationship with political skills. In this study, the meta-analysis technique is used to integrate 141 studies containing 209 effect values (N = 57,406) from 2004 to 2020 to create a quantitative review of the relationship between political skills and career success. The results show that political skills are significantly correlated with career success, with a medium effect value (d = 0.289). Compared with objective career success (d = 0.256), political skills have a stronger predictive effect on subjective career success (d = 0.325). The moderating effect test finds that there are certain differences in the correlation between political skills and career success across different cultures, industries, and groups. The predictive effect of political skills on career success is higher in eastern than in western cultures, higher in the tertiary sector than in the secondary sector, and higher at the management level than at the employee level. This study explores the influence of political skills on career success and its dimensions and proposes management implications.

Supplemental data for this article is available online at https://doi.org/10.1080/09585192.2021.1949626 .

Keywords:

• Political skills
• subjective career success
• objective career success
• career success
• meta-analysis

Data availability statement

The authors confirm that the data supporting the findings of this study are available within the article and its supplementary materials.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Statements

This manuscript has not been, and will not be, submitted elsewhere for publication as long as it is under consideration at the International Journal of Human Resource Management. All authors have contributed significantly to the work, have seen and approved the contents of the manuscript, and agree with its submission to the International Journal of Human Resource Management. We comply with ethical standard, and we have no conflicts of interest.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Jiangsu Philosophy and Social Sciences Excellent Innovation Cultivation Team. (Grant Number 2017ZSTD031).