Savvy or Slimy Upward Influence: The Unintended Effects of Perceived Political Culture and Tactics on Employee Perceptions of Leader Trustworthiness

This study integrates attribution theory and target-observer differences with a social information processing perspective to investigate how political perceptions that are organizational culture-related versus supervisor-specific (in the form of upward and supervisor-focused ingratiation tactics) interact to influence subordinates’ perceptions of their leader’s trustworthiness. Using a latent moderated structural (LMS) approach with a two-wave panel of 607 individuals, this study found that subordinates’ perceptions of leaders’ upward ingratiation tactics (Time 1) attenuated positive changes in their perceptions of the three attributes of leader trustworthiness (ability, benevolence, and integrity) from Time 1 to Time 2. However, when perceptions of leaders’ upward ingratiation tactics were high and present within an organizational culture perceived as highly political, the opposite was true; there was a strong positive relationship between perceived leader trustworthiness (integrity) at Time 1 and positive changes in perceived leader trustworthiness. Conversely, when perceptions of leaders’ upward ingratiation tactics were low in highly political contexts, there was a strong negative relationship between perceived leader trustworthiness (integrity) at Time 1 and positive changes in perceived leader trustworthiness. These findings reveal unintended effects of the fit between two observed political contextual factors (leader ingratiation behavior and organizational politics) on employees’ changing perceptions of leader trustworthiness.