Political skill in the stressor - strain relationship: A meta-analytic update and extension

Abstract The role of political skill in stressor and strain processes has thus far produced inconsistent and conflicting results. Consequently, the present investigation sought to help reconcile these inconsistencies by estimating the meta-analytic effect sizes of political skill in stressor and strain processes. In contrast to prior meta-analytic results, we find that political skill is negatively related to general job stressors, role conflict, role ambiguity, and the strain response of burnout. Post-hoc analyses suggest that the stress tolerance demands of work moderate the relationship between political skill and job tension. Contributions of this study, limitations, and future research directions are discussed.