The paradoxical effect of perceived organizational politics on employees motivation: the mediation role of hostility and moderating role of organizational injustice

PurposeThis research aims to unpack the relationship between employees' perceived organizational politics (POP) and their self-determined motivation by itemizing the mediating role of hostility and a moderating role of organizational injustice.Design/methodology/approachData were collected at two different times from 270 employees working in various universities in Pakistan. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to test the hypotheses.FindingsThe findings revealed that POP negatively influence intrinsic motivation, autonomous extrinsic motivation and positively impact amotivation, whereas POP does not affect employees' controlled extrinsic motivation. Furthermore, POP positively influences hostility. Moreover, hostility mediates the relationships between perceived organizational politics and self-determined motivation. Finally, the findings also revealed that the relationship between perceived organizational politics and hostility was stronger when the perceived organizational injustice was high.Practical implications POP can lead to intentional efforts to harm the organization by enhancing employee hostility, which divulges how this peril can be restrained by implanting organizational fairness. Moreover, proactive employees with superior emotional intelligence skills have a greater capability to control their negative emotions. Emotional intelligence (EI) training can effectively reduce the hostility between employees provoked by POP and ultimately diminish self-determined motivation.Originality/valueThe current study revealed that ambiguous forms of political behavior trigger isolated work emotions, negatively affecting organizational sustainability and outcomes. These results have valuable suggestions regarding organizational injustice as a moderator to diminish the hostility resulting from POP.