The Perceptions of Organizational Politics and its Impact on Job Satisfaction Among Public Sector University Faculty

Abstract

This research study looked into the presence of politics among public sector university faculty and its impact on their job satisfaction. Furthermore, the study saw the impact which the perceptions of politics have on employees’ job satisfaction. Hence, the objective of this study was to critically analyse the influence of the perceptions of organizational politics and its impact on job satisfaction among the public sector university faculty in Pakistan. This study followed a mixed method of research with a phenomenological approach. This study is structured around the Perception of Organizational Politics (PoPs) generated by Kacmar and Carlson (1997) and Job Satisfaction Tool prepared by Tewksbury and Higgins (2006). In the first phase the data collected was analyzed using SPSSv-22.0 and in the second phase triangulation was done by interviewing at least one Dean/HoD from each of the 15 participating universities. The findings of the study confirmed that politics does exist at the higher education level; the study also found that politics at the workplace has an extremely negative impact on the job satisfaction level of the employees. Workplace politics and job satisfaction are inversely related since both have negative correlation. It means that an increase in one will have a negative impact on the other or vice versa.