Corporate level politics from managers and employees perspective and its impact on employees' job stress and job performance

Purpose - Perception of organizational politics is one of the key factors of the organization's performance. Based on the principles of Game Theory, this study aims to examine the impact of management's and employee's politics within an organization on the psychological and organizational stress levels of workers, followed by their task and contextual performance. Design/methodology/approach - Following the non-probability convenience sampling technique, the data was collected from the managerial and non-managerial staff of public, private and semi-government services organizations in Rawalpindi, Islamabad, Lahore, Faisalabad, Gujranwala, Abbottabad and Karachi cities in Pakistan. Findings - The structural analyses indicate that organizational politics is a major cause of stress among workers and has a significant positive impact on the psychological and organizational stress of workers. Moreover, both organizational politics and job stress hinder workers' performance. Originality/value - The findings of the current research provide valuable insights into the management of firms about the destructive role of politics with a special focus on psychological and organizational stress, followed by job and contextual performance, particularly in the context of Pakistan. It also proposes strategies to counter this issue, improving worker's performance. Furthermore, the findings also suggest whether management or employees are more involved in organizational politics.