Perceived organizational politics and organizational performance in governmental organizations: the moderating role of leadership styles

Abstract

Effective leadership is essential for mitigating the adverse effects of organizational politics and enhancing organizational performance in public organizations. However, empirical evidence on the relationship between perceived organizational politics and organizational performance, as moderated by leadership styles, remains limited. This study examines how the perception of organizational politics influences organizational performance and investigates the moderating role of different leadership styles. Data were collected from 178 public managers of governmental organizations in Myanmar and analyzed using SPSS and structural equation modeling. The results further show that perceived organizational politics is negatively associated with organizational performance. The findings also indicate that leadership styles differ in the extent to which they moderate the relationship between perceived organizational politics and organizational performance. Specifically, transformational leadership significantly moderates this relationship; however, the direction of the interaction is opposite to the hypothesized buffering effect, such that the negative association between perceived organizational politics and organizational performance becomes stronger at higher levels of transformational leadership. In contrast, transactional leadership does not exhibit a significant moderating effect. Comparative analysis further suggests that the moderating effects of transformational and transactional leadership differ significantly. These findings suggest that public organizations should strengthen the development of context-appropriate leadership styles to improve organizational performance and reduce the harmful effects of organizational politics. Finally, the study develops a conceptual framework that links perceived organizational politics, organizational performance, and leadership styles within the context of the public sector.