INFLUENCE OF ORGANIZATIONAL POLITICS ON EMPLOYEE COMMITMENT: THE BANKING SECTOR PERSPECTIVE.

Abstract

This paper examined the relationship between organizational politics and employee commitment in selected Nigerian banks. Organizational politics was operationalized using two key dimensions, co-worker behavior and dominant group behavior while employee commitment was assessed through affective and normative dimensions. A convenience sampling technique was employed to select ten banks, and data were collected from 92 supervisory and managerial staff. The Spearman rank-order correlation coefficient was used to test the study’s hypotheses. Findings reveal a significant negative correlation between co-worker behavior and both affective and normative commitment, indicating that increased perceptions of workplace politics reduce employees’ emotional and moral attachment to the organization. Additionally, a moderate negative relationship was observed between dominant group behavior and the two commitment dimensions. Based on these results, the study recommends the implementation of fairness, transparency, and equity-based policies to minimize political behavior in the workplace. While organizational politics may be inevitable, management should adopt strategic interventions to mitigate its negative effects, thereby promoting stronger employee commitment and overall organizational performance.