Abstract

Political behavior and the use of power affect almost every important decision in organizations. As public organizations are more closely attached to the political system, they operate in a less flexible, less responsive and less participatory organizational environment. This study provides an empirical assessment of the differences in public and private organizations in the relationship between perceptions of organizational politics (POP) and various work attitudes. 300 questionnaires were distributed among part time students of business courses of a large institute of business administration to gain the wide representation of industries. In all, 256 usable surveys were returned which represented both sectors. The results of the study showed that perceptions of organizational politics differ significantly for public and private sector employees. Specifically, employees in public sector perceived a high level of politics in their workplace and reported higher levels of stress, lower levels of job satisfaction, organizational commitment, job involvement and higher levels of intention to quit than did private sector employees. These results are consistent with previous research but in a non western context. Implications of the findings and suggestions for future research are discussed.