Leader Political Skill and Work Relationship Favorability: An Examination of Mediating Characteristics and Follower Outcomes

The purpose of this dissertation was to extend the research surrounding the impact of leaders' political skill on the valuable outcomes experienced by their followers at work through the high-quality relationships developed between politically skilled leaders and their followers. Further, this research was intended to establish possible characteristics or behaviors exhibited by politically skilled leaders, and perceived by their subordinates, through which leaders influence the quality of relationships with their followers. This was accomplished through examining a model of relationships at work in which leaders' political skill positively influences the quality of the relationships that leaders have with their followers through the mediating mechanisms of displayed leader humility, displayed leader empathy, and the leader's personal perceptions of control over the relationship with the follower. Leader follower relationship quality, in turn, positively influences followers' perceptions of organizational justice, their own well-being, their engagement in organizational-citizenship behaviors, and the congruence between leaders' ratings of their followers' performance and the followers' self-rated performance. Using a sample of 145 leader-follower dyads, it was found that leader political skill does impact leader-follower relationship quality through the mediating mechanisms of leader humility, leader empathy, and perception of control, and leader-follower relationship quality was significantly related to followers' perceptions of justice, well-being, and organizational citizenship behaviors. The hypothesis that relationship quality would positively influence performance rating congruence was not supported. This dissertation continues to expand the knowledge and understanding of how leaders, particularly those with political skill, are able to impact their relationships with their followers and the value that those relationships can produce. Strengths, limitations, and implications for both theory and practice are discussed.