Does Political Skills Affect Personal Reputation Among Academicians in Malaysia?

Nowadays the academic credentials that one acquires will become less important in securing job positions. While employee expertise, soft skills, along with remarkable behaviour become increasingly crucial as time goes on, building a solid personal reputation to survive in a merciless market. A great personal reputation is critical in any industry since it permits employees to be prominent from others. Indeed, a notable personal reputation serves as a valuable tool towards unlock a new prospect for future success and pursuing a great reward in the organization. Studies have consistently demonstrated that soft skills are a key to build a pleasant personal reputation and it is demonstrated that political skills act as valuable soft skill to develop personal reputation in the organization. Thus, this study explores how political skills with its four dimensions: networking ability, interpersonal influence, social astuteness, and apparent sincerity are linked to the personal reputation among academicians in Malaysia. A variance-based structural equation model (SMARTPLS) has been utilized in analysing the relationship among variables. A judgemental purposive sampling was conducted for this study with several criteria listed to ensure the credibility of the 94 respondents. Therefore, it is vital for academicians to focus on building political skills to ensure their personal reputation is strengthened.