Perception of organizational politics and counterproductive work behavior: Moderating role of Islamic work ethics in public higher education sector of Pakistan

The inevitably pervasive phenomenon of organizational politics instigates detrimental consequences and presumed to be the root cause of behavioral turbulence. Organizational politics has become severe challenge that requires a comprehensive study for exploration of perceptual aspect at public sector tertiary level education. Politically polluted environment of universities is evident but there is lack in identification of antecedents and consequences. This study is undertaken for investigating the potential antecedents including scarcity of resources (SOR), workplace belongingness (WPB), and Machiavellianism (Mach) of the perception of organizational politics that causes counterproductive work behavior (CWB). Additionally, current research examined the moderating role of Islamic work ethics (IWE) to mitigate the negative behavior. The proportionate stratified random sampling technique was applied for data collection through questionnaire from public sector universities of Pakistan and 308 usable responses were received. The PLS-SEM was utilized for data analysis and hypothesis testing. Statistical results revealed significant relationships between antecedents and perception of organizational politics that induces counterproductive work behavior. However, no moderation effect of Islamic work ethics (IWE) on the relationship between perception of organizational politics and counterproductive work behavior. The study valuably contributed to assessing the impact of scarcity of resources, workplace belongingness, and Machiavellianism on the perception of organizational politics that excite counterproductive work behavior. Likewise, the research assessed the moderating role of Islamic work ethics to abridged counterproductive work behavior actuated by the perception of organizational politics. The study urged to develop a formalized mechanism to alleviate the scarcity of resources, enhance workplace belongingness and personality traits assessment that influence perception of organizational politics. Furthermore, intensive ethical training sessions must be initiated to reduce the negative behavioral outcomes.