Managerial assertiveness and constructive deviance: Explaining the mediating role of political networking in Iranian State Universities.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of manager's assertiveness on creative deviant behaviors in organization considering the role of mediator of political networking in Iranian public universities. The present research is a descriptive-analytic, correlation type based on purpose, applied and research method. The statistical population of the study consisted of 425 Deputy Directors and Managers of Iranian Government Universities. According to Cochran's formula, 202 individuals were selected as sample. In order to measure the variables of the research, the questionnaires of Flynn (2007), Gallerin (2002) and Jean and Pierce (1996) were used to measure Manager's assertiveness, creative deviation and political networking. To analyze the data, Structural Equation Modeling and pls software were used. The findings of the research showed that the Manager's assertiveness has a positive and significant effect on the constructive deviance behavior as well as on the political networking of the people at the workplace. The political networking variable also reinforces the relationship between Manager's assertiveness and constructive deviance in an incremental direction.