Political self-efficacy matters: an investigation of how and when leader political mentoring affects follower political behavior and promotability

PurposeThe authors propose a new motivation construct, political self-efficacy, and investigate how and when leader political mentoring influences follower political behavior and promotability through political self-efficacy.Design/methodology/approachThe authors collected four samples to develop a scale for political self-efficacy and conducted two field studies of leader-follower dyads to examine the model.FindingsLeader political mentoring enhances followers' political behavior and promotability through increasing their political self-efficacy. These positive indirect effects are stronger when followers have a higher positive political perception.Originality/valueThis study integrates mentoring research with organizational politics literature and theorizes how a domain-specific self-efficacy—political self-efficacy, translates the positive impact of leader political mentoring on constructive behavioral and career-related outcomes.