Influence of Organizational Politics on Employee Job Performance and Internal Communication in Akwa Ibom State Civil Service

Abstract

This study investigated the influence of politics in organizations on employee job performance and internal communication in the Akwa Ibom State Civil Service. Five research questions were raised, and two hypotheses guided the study. The population of the study consisted of 35,865 civil servants in the Akwa Ibom State payroll, as stated in the 2012 Akwa Ibom Civil Service handbook, while the sample consisted of 387 civil servants selected through the use of the simple random sampling technique. The descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyze the data gathered in the study. The descriptive statistics were used to analyze all the research questions, while the inferential statistics analysis (Pearson’s Product Moment Correlation) was used to analyze and test the hypotheses at 0.05 levels of significance. A thirteen (13) item structured researcher-developed questionnaire titled "Politics in Organization and Employee Job Performance and Internal Communication” (POEJPICQ) and a six (6) question interview schedule were used to collect data for the study. The questionnaire was pilot tested on 10 civil servants in the study area who did not participate in the main study; the test-retest method was used, and the Pearson-product moment correlation was used to test the reliability of the instrument, which yielded a high reliability coefficient of 0.87. The two null hypotheses formulated were tested at the 0.05 alpha level using the Pearson-product moment correlation analysis. The two null hypotheses were rejected, which implies there is a significant relationship between general political behavior, politics in organizations, and internal communication and job performance in Akwa Ibom State civil service. Based on the study’s findings, it was recommended that constructive or positive politics be promoted in the Akwa Ibom State civil service, that positive factors encouraging general political behaviour be strengthened, that civil servants use positive political influence tactics instead of negative ones, and that the civil service management board ensure all categories of workers are positively affected by organizational politics; further research suggestions were also drawn from these findings.