In Search of a Unified Definition of Organisational Political Behaviour: Evidence for a Multi-Level Approach

Abstract Despite thousands of years of interest, there is no standardised definition of organisational politics. This paper attempts to integrate different accounts of organisational politics through the development of a multi-level definition. A two-stage field study showed that political activities observed in the workplace can be fully captured by defining organisational politics relative to organisational efficiency at the level of the organisation, the group and the individual.