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The moderating role of optimism on politics-outcomes relationships: A test of competing perspectives

Research to date has assumed that politics perceptions lead to uniformly negative outcomes. Recent studies, however, advocate examining theoretically relevant dispositional factors capable of differentially predicting politics perceptions—work outcome relationships. One individual difference factor possessing considerable scholarly merit in this regard is optimism. Building on recent research, the politics perceptions—optimism relationship was examined in a series of three studies. In particular, our objective was to determine whether optimism intensified or neutralized the potentially negative effects of perceived politics on job satisfaction and tension. Across samples, findings confirmed a moderating effect; notably, politics triggered increased stress and lower satisfaction for individuals with higher levels of optimism. In contrast, stress and satisfaction remained largely unaffected for less optimistic individuals reporting elevated levels of politics. These findings, which suggest that optimism may be associated with undesirable effects in threat situations, contradicts the preponderance of research affirming favorable stress reactions.