On the basis of socioanalytic theory (Hogan & Shelton, 1998) and mimicry-deception theory
(Jones, 2014), we hypothesized that political skill would effectively mask Machiavellianism
(socioanalytic theory) with consequences for coworker perceived career role performance and
actual counterproductive work behavior at low and high levels ...
On the basis of socioanalytic theory (Hogan & Shelton, 1998) and mimicry-deception theory
(Jones, 2014), we hypothesized that political skill would effectively mask Machiavellianism
(socioanalytic theory) with consequences for coworker perceived career role performance and
actual counterproductive work behavior at low and high levels of job tenure (mimicry-deception
theory). We tested our hypotheses in a triangular multisource design in two complementary
studies comprised of both target workers and coworkers with a total of N = 1438 participants.
In Study 1, we found that when political skill was high, targets received high career role
performance ratings from coworkers, and this was also the case when targets had high levels of
Machiavellianism (socioanalytic masking effect). For targets with low political skill, the career
role performance ratings of high Machiavellians was low at long tenure. The results of Study 2
partly disconfirmed mimicry-deception theory: Individuals high in Machiavellianism and high in
political skill did not tend to avoid engaging in overtly mean behaviors toward others and extracting organizational resources at short tenure. Implications and limitations are discussed.