Exploring the Impact of Office Politics on Employee Engagement and Organizational Commitment

Office politics is part of organizational behavior. However, it has only been lightly addressed in recent literature. Today, office politics adopts a negative notion, which causes some individuals to believe that it is possible to avoid office politics. However, the fact that office politics affect even those not involved means that it is in everyone’s interest to address the problem and develop practical solutions. Few studies have linked politics to other concepts, including organizational commitment and employee engagement. This research has filled this gap by examining the impacts of office politics on organizational commitment and employee engagement. The findings lead to the conclusion that office politics are often associated with negative organizational outcomes associated with commitment and engagement. Higher levels of Positive office politics reduce engagement and commitment. Even though there are instances of positive outcomes, such rare instances may be caused by contextual and mediating factors, including job meaningfulness and personality.