This study focused on the context of the securities industry in Taiwan, and examined whether political skill played a moderating role in the relationship between trait anxiety and job performance in the socioanalytic perspective. The results showed that trait anxiety were negatively associated with job performance. Furthermore, this study did not find the moderating role of political skill in the relationship between trait anxiety and job performance.
Instead, political skill was more important in the prediction of job performance.
Trait Anxiety and Job Performance
Hypothesis 1 indicated that individuals high in trait anxiety are positively associated with job performance. However, the finding of this study was inconsistent with previous research (Mughal, Walsh, & Wilding, 1996). This study found that individuals high in trait anxiety were negatively associated with job performance. In other words, individuals high in trait anxiety had lower job performance than those low in trait anxiety.
One of the possible explanations for this result is that according to the socioanalytic perspective on job performance, most of the jobs in the workplace require interactions. During interactions at work, the way in which individuals present themselves to others has strongly influence on job success. Although everyone has motivation to get along and to get ahead, levels of effort to get ahead and to get along are evaluated by others. Individuals who are perceived as positive and confident can have higher performance. In contrast, anxious individuals who seem not good at dealing with their emotion tend to have lower performance (Hogan & Shelton, 1998； Hogan & Holland, 2003). Therefore, although this study did not find the positively relationship between trait anxiety and job performance, the result partially confirmed the assumption of the socioanalytic perspective on job performance.
Political Skill as Moderator
Hypothesis 2 presented that political skill served as a moderator on the relationship
between trait anxiety and job performance. According to the socioanalytic perspective, a social competency is likely to moderate the relationship between the personality and job performance (Blickle, Wendel, & Ferris , 2010). However, political skill was not found to moderate the relationship between trait anxiety and job performance, and trait anxiety was not significantly associated with job performance. Instead, consistent with prior research (Blickle et al., 2012), political skill was found to be a significantly important predictor of job performance measured by objective criteria.
One of the possible explanations for the result is that the major service provided by securities specialists is continued to sell and buy securities. Most clients trust the same securities specialist who has established a long-term and good relationship with the client, and entrust him or her with securities transactions (The Taiwan Ministry of Labor, 2013).
According to an interpersonal influence perspective on services selling, "in insurance and similar contexts, many customers may seek to establish long-term interpersonal relationships and are unlikely to object to the seller's efforts to foster quality interaction" (Crosby, Evans, &
Cowles, 1990, p.77). In other words, a long-term and good relationship between seller and buyer is very important to job success in sales. The social ability of salesperson to establish and maintain the relationship quality can increases sales opportunities. In general, more sales opportunities should make higher job performance in sales (Crosby, Evans, & Cowles, 1990).
The pattern of the finding suggested that political skill become more important in the long-term sales relationship context.
Implications for Research
The results of this study make contribution to research by providing the different finding and perspective on the relationship between trait anxiety and job performance. This study began by noting that little research investigated the relationship between trait anxiety and performance in a workplace. The finding of this study differs from the prior study that reported individuals high in trait anxiety had higher job performance in terms of actual sales (Mughal et
al., 1996). The results of this study showed that individuals high in trait anxiety significantly impaired job performance regarding actual sales.
Although this study demonstrated that political skill not moderated the relationship between trait anxiety and job performance, the results suggested that political skill had the main effect on job performance. Most previous research investigated the role of political skill in the prediction of subjective job performance, such as performance ratings (Ahearn, Ferris, Hochwarter, Douglas, & Ammeter, 2004； Andrews, Kacmar, & Harris, 2009； Douglas &
Ammeter, 2004； Liu et al., 2007), whereas the finding supported prior research that political skill was also significantly associated with objective job performance. Thus, the results also contribute to research in political skill (Blickle et al., 2012).
Furthermore, the contextual implications of this study are noteworthy. When service-selling involved the long-term interaction, political skill became a more important factor to predict job performance. The results of this study suggested that in the long-term selling context, the effect of political skill on job performance suppresses the effect of trait anxiety on job performance.
Limitations of the Study
This study has some limitations due to the data collection, the measurement, and sample characteristics. First, the data of three variables were gathered from a self-reported questionnaire which might result in common method variance. To avoid common method variance, the questionnaires were anonymous and the measurements were designed in different scales, the 5-point Likert scale and the 7-point Likert scale, and job performance was measured by the objective performance measurement instead of the subjective performance measurement.
Another limitation is that the appropriateness of measurement in the current population.
Trait anxiety was measured by a noncontextualized personality measurement designed for
workplace. The original items and instruction of the Trait Anxiety Inventory do not specifically refer to jobs, work, or tasks, and the Trait Anxiety Inventory is also not specifically designed to predict performance in the workplace. Prior meta-analysis concluded that a noncontextualized personality measurement is less valid than a contextualized measurement regarding the prediction of job performance (Shaffer & Postlethwaite, 2012).
Finally, the purposive sampling rather than random sampling was conducted to collect the data, so the generalizability of the results might be an issue. For securities firms, the amount of market share of each securities specialist is very important and confidential. Thus, because of the difficulties of data collection, this study only utilized data from securities specialists who work in the same securities firm.
Future Research
The results of this study provide some directions for future research. First, although the relationship between trait anxiety and cognitive performance, such as test performance, has been discussed to some extent in previous studies (Eysenck, 1985； Eysenck & Calvo, 1992；
Eysenck, Derakshan, Santos, & Calvo, 2007； Owens, Stevenson, Hadwin, & Norgate, 2012), trait anxiety has rarely been served as a predictor of job performance. In addition, the result of this study regarding the relationship between trait anxiety and job performance is different from the previous study. To examine the relationship between personality and job performance, narrow personality traits might be more useful and valid than broad personality traits.
Compared to a broad personality trait, a narrow personality that is a relatively specific predictor can avoid results being general (Ashton, 1998； Hogan & Shelton, 1998； Meurs, Perrewé, &
Ferris, 2011； Schneider, Hough, & Dunnette, 1996). Future research could keep investigating the relationship between trait anxiety and job performance in different service-selling context, and might develop a contextualized personality measurement of trait anxiety in order to truly capture work-specific behaviors.
Furthermore, future research might investigate the role of other social competencies on
the relationship between trait anxiety and job performance. Anxious individuals may be not good at dealing with others, but the social ability of salesperson to establish and maintain the relationship quality is important for job success. According to the socioanalytic perspective on job performance, social skill can moderate the relationship between personality and job performance, since social skill can translate intentions of the actor into others evaluations (Hogan & Shelton, 1998). Social skill refers to "the ease and comfort of communication"
between stakeholders (Peled, 2000, p.27), while political skill refers to "the ability to effectively understand others at work, and to use such knowledge to influence others to act in ways" (Ferris et al., 2005, p. 127). Thus, political skill that tends to manipulate interpersonal relationships may be a stronger social competency than social skill for individuals. Future research could examine the moderating role of social skill in the relationship between trait anxiety and job performance.
Implications for Practice
This study would emphasize the importance of possessing political skill for salesperson.
Generally, more sales opportunities lead higher performance in sales. Although salesperson attributes have influence on individual sales outcomes, sales opportunities are determined by the relationship quality between customers and salespersons. A good social competency to maintain and establish the relationship quality increases sales opportunities (Crosby, Evans, &
Cowles, 1990).
Although anxious individuals may lack dispositional antecedents to political skill, such as self-monitoring, political skill is a learned behavior that can be developed by training and experiences (Ferris et al., 2007). Ferris and his colleagues (2007) suggested that an effective approach to develop political skill, such as behavioral role modeling and mentoring, should be exercised in social interaction settings. In addition, trainers or skilled mentors must provide participants with "feedback about their social interactions, including their level of awareness in
behavioral response alternatives" (Ferris et al., 2007, p.299).
The results of this study suggested a need for securities firms to develop political skill of securities specialists. Specifically, this study indicated that securities companies in Taiwan in a shrinking market need to provide securities specialists with training programs on political skill.
Through the training of political skill, individuals improve job performance, which contributes to personal and organizational success.
Conclusions
The results did not support hypothesis that the political skill can moderate the relationship between trait anxiety and job performance. Instead, this study supported that in the long-term selling context, the ability to maintain and establish the relationship between customers and salespersons is more important in the prediction of job performance. Even if trait anxiety was negatively related to job performance, political skill suppressed the effect of trait anxiety on job performance. Politically skilled individuals who effectively influence others impressions of them have higher job performance. This study also provides the evidence to support the benefit of possessing political skill in service-selling context.
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APPENDIX A: QUESTIONNAIRE-ENGLISH
Part. 1
Read each statement and then circle the appropriate number to the right of the statement to indicate how you feel right now.
(1= Strongly Disagree to 5= Strongly Agree)
Strongly Disagree Disagree Neither Agree or
17. Some unimportant thoughts runs through my mind and bothers me
1 2 3 4 5
18. I take disappointments so keenly that I can't put them out of my mind
Part 2.
Read each statement and then circle the appropriate number to the right of the statement to indicate how you interact with people at work.
(1= Strongly Disagree to 7= Strongly Agree)
Strongly
Disagree Disagree Slightly
Disagree Neither Agree or
Disagree Slightly Agree Agree Strongly Agree
1. I spend a lot of time and effort at work networking with others 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 2. I am able to make most people feel comfortable and at ease
around me 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
3. I am able to communicate easily and effectively with others. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 4. It is easy for me to develop good rapport with most people 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
5. I understand people very well 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
6. I am good at building relationships with influential people at
work 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
7. I am particularly good at sensing the motivations and hidden
agendas of others 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
8. When communicating with others, I try to be genuine in what I
say and do 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
9. I have developed a large network of colleagues and associates at work who I can call on for support when I really need to get
13. It is important that people believe I am sincere in what I say and
do 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
14. I try to show a genuine interest in other people 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
15. I am good at using my connections and networks to make things
happen at work 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
16. I have good intuition or “savvy” about how to present myself to
other 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
17. I always seem to instinctively know the right thing to say or do
to influence others 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
to influence others 1 2 3 4 5 6 7