Are You Actually Helping or Just Looking Out for Yourself?: Examining the Individual and Interactive Effects of Relationship Quality and Political Skill on Supervisor Motive Attributions

ABSTRACT

Scholars have argued for the importance of motive attributions in supervisors’ reactions and subsequent decisions about their subordinates’ organizational citizenship behaviors (OCBs). However, research examining models of attributions of OCBs have not considered the role of individual skill and relationship quality. The purpose of this two-experiment study is to examine the impact of subordinate political skill and leader–member exchange (LMX) on the attributions supervisors make of their subordinates’ OCBs and how these attributions affect subordinate performance ratings. Results from experiment 1 (n = 195) indicate that subordinates who are highly politically skilled and in high-quality relationships receive more favorable, other-serving attributions, which are related to higher evaluations of performance. Additionally, results from experiment 2 (n = 175) indicate that political skill may be a more potent contributor to motive attributions than LMX.

KEYWORDS:

• LMX
• motive attributions
• performance
• political skill

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Rebecca L. Badawy

Rebecca L. Badawy is an assistant professor of management in the Williamson College of Business Administration (WCBA) at Youngstown State University (YSU). She received her PhD in organization and human resources from the School of Management at SUNY Buffalo. Her research focuses on social influence, impression management, individual self-concepts, identity, and leadership. Rebecca leads the leadership certificate program at YSU and helps business leaders develop their leadership skills. She can be reached at [email protected].

Brooke A. Shaughnessy

Brooke A. Shaughnessy is an assistant professor in the Institute for Leadership and Organization at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich. She received her PhD in organization and human resources from the School of Management at SUNY Buffalo. Prior to taking her position at LMU, she held a postdoctorate position at the Technische Universität München. Brooke conducts leadership workshops, specifically focused on women and leadership. She can be reached at [email protected].

Robyn L. Brouer

Robyn L. Brouer is an assistant professor in the Management Department in the Richard J. Wehle School of Business at Canisius College. She received her PhD in organizational behavior and human resource management from Florida State University. Her research interests include leadership, social influence, and person–environment fit. She has more than 25 peer-reviewed publications in these research areas. She is the co-faculty adviser for the student Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) chapter. Robyn has also been appointed the director of the Western New York Prosperity Fellowship. She can be reached at [email protected].

Stephanie R. Seitz

Stephanie R. Seitz is an assistant professor in the Department of Management at California State University, East Bay. Stephanie received her PhD from the School of Management at SUNY Buffalo in the area of organization and human resources. Her research interests include leadership, toxic relationships at work, power and politics, and implicit theories. She can be reached at [email protected].