ABSTRACT
Three decades ago, the political skill construct was introduced to the organizational sciences literature by Pfeffer (1981), advocating a political perspective on organizations, which was shared in independent and parallel work conducted by Mintzberg (1983, 1985). However, theory and research on political skill lay dormant until recently, when Ferris and his colleagues developed a program of research designed to establish a more informed understanding of this important construct (Ferris et al., 1999; Ferris, Treadway, et al., 2005; Ferris, Treadway, Perrewé, Brouer, Douglas, & Lux, 2007). In the ensuing period of time, an active program of research has been conducted, demonstrating the roles political skill plays in organizations and its importance to the field. Therefore, it seems timely to review and assess the current status of the political skill construct to date.
