Workplace Politics and Employee Well-Being Across Career Stages
Explore research topic ideas on workplace politics and its impact on employee well-being across different career stages. Enhance your understanding of how these dynamics influence career development and workplace culture.
QUANTITATIVE AND QUALITATIVE RESEARCH
Realyn Manalo
5/26/20253 min read
In the modern workplace, politics can be both a subtle influence and an overt barrier to employee satisfaction, advancement, and well-being. Despite the implementation of professional codes and ethical frameworks, political maneuvering remains embedded in many organizational cultures, shaping access to opportunities, power, and recognition. Women, in particular, often encounter complex layers of disadvantage due to the intersection of gender norms, ageism, and organizational hierarchies. As industries evolve and digital transitions reshape workplace norms, understanding how political behavior affects employee experiences across different stages of their career has become a pressing research concern. This topic opens the door to studying how power dynamics, self-concept, justice perception, and structural inequities collectively impact organizational inclusion and employee wellness.
Who Can Use These Topics
This research is ideal for students and professionals pursuing the following courses or strands:
College Programs:
BS Psychology
BA Sociology
BSBA Human Resource Management
BSBA Organizational Development
BA Political Science
BS Social Work
Senior High School Strands:
Humanities and Social Sciences (HUMSS)
General Academic Strand (GAS)
Why This Topic Needs Research
Several important gaps remain in the current literature:
Age and Career Stage Representation: Most studies focused on younger or mid-career professionals. There was limited attention to older women or employees nearing retirement, despite their growing participation in the workforce and potential vulnerability to exclusionary politics (Goel et al., 2025).
Contextual Experience Gaps: While political behavior has been widely documented in corporate settings, its presence in schools, hospitals, or small businesses remains underexamined. This creates a research blind spot on how employees in these sectors perceive and navigate workplace dynamics (Joshi, 2025).
Lack of Lived Experience Data: Several articles emphasized the need for primary, qualitative data. Many existing studies used theoretical models or surveys, leaving out employee narratives that reveal coping mechanisms, emotional toll, and cultural influences (Ali & Sarkar, 2024; Ordua, 2025).
Invisibility of Ageism and Digital Transitions: Digital transformation and hybrid work structures have changed power distribution within teams. However, the intersection of age-based bias and digital exclusion is largely absent from workplace politics literature (Goel et al., 2025).
Sectoral and Cultural Discrepancies: Political behavior may function differently in countries or industries with rigid hierarchies or low transparency. Yet, cross-cultural comparisons remain scarce, especially in Southeast Asian and African contexts (Obinna & Bayo, 2024).
Justice and Procedural Fairness: Organizational justice theories are rarely applied to analyze everyday political behaviors such as desk appropriation, favoritism, or promotion bias. This limits the practical design of fair and inclusive HR practices (Tjahjana et al., 2023).
Feasibility & Challenges by Target Group
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References
Ali, M. S. E., & Sarkar, A. K. (2024). " Crafting Resilient Cultures: A Study on the Symbiosis of Workplace Politics and Workplace Environment.
Goel, A., Khan, N., & Dyaram, L. (2025). Navigating office politics: How do self-concept and upward voice influence women's workplace well-being?. IIMB Management Review, 37(1), 100526.
Joshi, S. C. (2025). The Politics of Exclusion: How Workplace Politics Undermine Skilled Talent in Educational Institutions.
Obinna, G. B. E., & Bayo, P. L. (2024). The Impacts of Power and Politics in Contemporary Business Organizations and it’s Influence on Employee’s Productivity.
Ordua, G. (2025). Workplace Politics and Employee Loyalty of Banks. BW Academic Journal, 2, 111-116.
Tjahjana, D. J. S., Rusilawati, E., Andi, A., Mitchell, L., MacDonald, E., Thompson, L., & O'Connor, M. (2023). The Intricacies of Workplace Territoriality: An Exploratory Study on the Phenomenon of Desk Appropriation in Organizational Settings. Nexus Synergy: A Business Perspective, 1(3), 199-206.