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Organizational politics in the "jeitinho" land: consequences of political behavior in organizations in Brazil

Organizational politics represent a singular domain amongst all relationships at work, being considered a complex phenomenon, persuasive and, sometimes, ambiguous. Organizations are inherently political institutions, since they are sets of people with diverse and potentially conflicting interests, protruding the relationship between these interests, conflicts and, as part of the political system, influence and power. In general, the perception of politics appears to have a negative effect and thus demotivating on people. This research aims to explore the influence of perceptions of politics in satisfaction, performance, negligent behaviors and intent to leave the organization in a cultural context less explored before, the Brazilian organizations. In order to empirically test the validity of the research model, a survey was conducted and the perceptions of 157 employees were examined from three Brazilian organizations, using linear regressions. The results suggest that in Brazil, the political behavior negatively influences satisfaction and individual performance and positively influences the intentions to leave the organization and negligent behaviors. That is, the greater the perception of politics in the workplace, the less will be the satisfaction and performance of individual employees and the greater will be their engagement in negligent behaviors and the intention to leave the organization. Some limitations are presented, along with theoretical and practical contributions. In a practical perspective, this research highlights the negative effects of political behavior, aiming to stimulate management, leaders and decision makers to respond to such effects. In a theoretical perspective, the contributions emphasize the involvement of the cultural factor as a possible explanation of politics within organizations. Finally, according to the results, politics appear to have important impacts on work outcomes, even in the "jeitinho" land.

Perception of politics; Satisfaction; Individual performance; Negligent behaviors; Brazilian organizations


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