Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
Global Media Journal Turkish Edition, cilt.7, sa.13, ss.63-85, 2016 (Hakemli Dergi)
Studies showed that using influence tactics and polical behavior can be beneficial to employees because they affect
human resource decisions such as performance evaluation and promotion decisions (Higgins et al., 2003). However, the
type and frequency of the influence tactics employees engage in differ. Previous research has indicated employees'
personality, motives, needs and career concerns as the employee-related antecedents of political behavior (Steensma,
2007; Zanzi et al., 1991). In the present study, we intended to examine the employee related antecedents of political
behavior through invesigating the effects of personality, values and career concerns on the use of influence tactics. For
that purpose, 294 full-time employees working in various firms were surveyed using the Big Five Inventory (John,
Donahue, and Kentle, 1991), Portrait Values Questionnaire (Schwartz et al., 2001), Career Concerns Scale (adapted
from Zanzi et al., 1991), and Political Tactics Questionnaire (Kipnis, Schmidt, and Wilkinson, 1980). The results of this
study showed that, the internal career concern of skill development (learning new techniques, developing competencies,
etc.) had stronger positive relations with the influence tactics of coalition and persuasion than the external career
concerns (economic concerns), which had a weaker relationship with persuasion and an inverse relation with coalition
building. With regard to the personality factors, the individuals who were low in conscientiousness and high in
neuroticism were found to be the most engaged with various influence tactics at work. Finally, only the selfenhancement
value dimension acted as a moderator between the personality dimension of conscientiousness and
influence tactics, such that when this value was highly endorsed, the increase in the conscientiousness levels of
individuals decreased their tendencies to engage in influence tactics. Moreover, an opposite relationship was found
regarding the moderating effect of self-enhancement on the relationship between the two career concerns of skill
development and autonomy on influence tactics. Hence, for those who endorsed self-enhancement at a high level, the
presence of these career concerns increased the likelihood of engaging in influence tactics at work.
Keywords: Career Concerns, Portrait Values, Big Five Personality Factors, Influence Tactics