Abstract:
Organisational politics and political behaviour are gendered, and this contributes to
gender differences in building and maintaining power at work. This research utilises
a systematic review to elicit mechanisms from the extant literature relating to
organisational political climate (OPC) and power sources and their bases. Adopting
semi-structured interviews and an abductive reasoning process, this research then
examines how and why OPC and political behaviours are gendered by examining
how power sources and bases are activated in two organisations (renamed
EnergyCo and FinanceCo to ensure anonymity), where women make up less than
10% of senior positions at the time of undertaking the interviews. Examining how
OPC and political behaviours are gendered within male-dominated organisations is
important, as the gendered nature of these constructs is more likely to be heightened
within this environment. The findings reveal that perceptions of OPC and political
behaviours are gendered through the perceptions individuals form of the ideal
worker, which is both gendered and political. The gendered nature of both OPC and
political behaviours results in differential outcomes for men and women at work,
reinforcing the gender power gap.