For most people who have modest political outcomes tend to be predominantly negative. Politics may lead to self-reported declines in employee performance, perhaps because employees perceive political environments to be unfair, which demotivates them. The politics–performance relationship appears to be moderated by an individual’s understanding of the hows and whys of organizational politics.

When both politics and understanding are high, performance is likely to increase because these individuals see political activity as an opportunity. Political behavior at work moderates the effects of ethical leadership. When employees see politics as a threat, they often respond with defensive behaviors—reactive and protective behaviors to avoid action, blame, or change. In the short run, employees may find that defensiveness protects their self-interest, but in the long run it wears them down. People who rely on defensiveness find that eventually it is the only way they know how to behave.