Examining The Role of Laissez-Faire Leadership in Organizational Politics: A Moderated Mediated Model

Abstract

Many factors are thought to be a cause of organizational politics in any organization and in past research, it is empirically tested that leadership is one of those factors. Exploitative and despotic leadership causes politics in organizations but ethical leadership discourages it. However, the role of the laissez-faire leadership style in organizational politics is yet to be thoroughly investigated. This research aims to study the role of Laissez-Faire Leadership in Organizational Politics. Moreover, it also focuses on the mediating role played by Esprit De Corps and the moderating role of Employee GRIT upon the phenomenon of Organizational Politics resulting from Laissez-Faire Leadership on the top. Data was collected through a questionnaire survey from the employees of the National Highways and Motorway Police (NHMP) a Law Enforcement Agency and a Public Sector Organization. Data analysis was done through SPSS and AMOS software. The study findings revealed that Laissez-Faire Leadership results in Organizational Politics and is positively related to it. These findings were found to be in conformity with the Conservation of Resources Theory. The results also confirmed the mediating role of Esprit De Corps in the above-said phenomenon, thus, supporting the Cognitive Evaluation Theory. It was indicated that Laissez-Faire Leadership has a negative relationship with Esprit De Corps and likewise, Esprit De Corps has a negative relationship with Organizational Politics. Moreover, it also confirmed that Employee GRIT does have a moderating effect, on the relationship between Laissez-Faire Leadership and Organizational Politics mediated by Esprit De Corps and is negatively related. This finding corroborated what GRIT theory advocates. In the end, the implications, limitations of this study, and future directions have also been discussed.