The Machiavellianism, need for power and political behavior in school management: a Malaysian case

Work environment is political in nature and organization is a political arena. Organizational politics should be an issue in management and leadership because of it impacts on career development in organizations.However there is inconclusive evidence in relation of leader political personality traits and leader political behavior in organizational politics research. The primary purpose of this research is to examine the leader political personality characteristics and political behavior in the context of public secondary school organizations.Specifically, this research investigated the relationship of political personality traits and political behavior of school principals.This study involves a quantitative analysis of school principals' self-perception of their political personality traits and political behavior.The data was obtained through mail survey method from 600 school principals.The response rate for the sample was 53 percent, resulting in a usable sample size of 312 participants.The data were analysed by using PLS path analyses.Results of the study showed that there is significant relationship between leader political personality and leader political behavior.Overall, the findings were the evidence to support political theory of leadership.This study finding has contributed to current knowledge and understanding of leadership from political perspective.The results thus serve to improve organizational leadership understanding from political perspective and can help individuals to understand leader personality and behavior. Finally, the thesis discusses the implications of the study to theory and recommendations for future research