The Relationship between Individual Factors and Political Skills of Managers in a Governmental Organization: with Regards to the Moderating Role of Political Will

The purpose of this study is to identify the individual factors affecting the political skills of managers in the public sector. In terms of purpose, this research is applied-developmental and regarding data collection, it is descriptive using survey method. To analyze the collected data, structural equation modeling with partial least squares approach was used with Smart PLS3 software. The research population included a sample of 345 managers from the Ministry of the Interior, who were selected through cluster sampling method. The tool used to collect data was a questionnaire whose validity and reliability were confirmed through convergent validity and the alpha coefficient of Cronbach, respectively. The results of this study show that there is positive and significant relationship between individual factors (personality, emotional intelligence, individual responsiveness, charisma and narcissism) and political skills of the managers of this state organization. According to the results, political will explains the relationship between charisma and personality with political skills of managers, but the moderating role of political will does not confirm any relationship between narcissism, emotional intelligence and individual responsiveness with the political skills of managers. In general, it can be concluded that political will does not moderate the relationship between managers’ individual factors and political skills.