The effect of employee’s political skill on organizational citizenship behavior

Purpose - – This paper aims to address following three research questions: Are employees with high political skill willing to do extra-role behavior? Can leader–member exchange (LMX) affect organizational citizenship behavior (OCB)? Can perception of organizational politics (POP) influence LMX? Design/methodology/approach - – The paper is based on a survey of 227 questionnaires. Multiple linear regression analysis was used. Findings - – Findings indicate that employees’ political skill not only are helpful for them in dealing with the relationship with their leaders, but also can stimulate their OCB. The paper also shows that the mediation effect of POP is not obvious when they handle LMX. Originality/value - – This paper’s main contributions are as follows: When studying new generation employees, many managers find that their accumulated experience of management is ineffective in applying to this group of new generation employees. In Chinese culture, new organizational and new employee environment relationship can be regarded normal, positive and beneficial to the development of new generation employees. New generation employees use their own political skills to handle LMX; they are not well aware of POP.