Political Skill and Job Alienation: The Mediating Role of Workplace Positivity

This research examines how leaders’ political skill affects job alienation of newly hired personnel through the mediating role of workplace positivity. Based on this, it is proposed that a leader’s understanding of the interactions in an organization, the development of professional relationships, and their capacity to influence others may help new employees feel more part of the organization, improving their sense of belonging, rather than feeling isolated and alienated from the job. The study targeted newly hired employees with less than 10 years of service, and was conducted at Al-Musayyib Technical Institute, Al-Furat Al-Awsat Technical University. The study used a quantitative approach and a purposive non-probability sampling method, with a sample of 41 employees. The study used previously developed tools to measure leaders’ political skill, workplace positivity, and job alienation. Correlation and regression were used to analyze the data and examine the relationships among the study variables and the mediating role of workplace positivity. The results indicated that job alienation was significantly negatively related to leaders’ political skill, workplace positivity was significantly positively related to leaders’ political skill, and job alienation was significantly negatively related to workplace positivity. However, the mediating role of workplace positivity was not supported. The results indicate the significance of political skill in promoting workplace positivity and reducing job alienation among employees.