THE INFLUENCE OF ORGANIZATIONAL POLITICS ON EMPLOYEE PERFORMANCE: THE CASE OF BANK OF ABYSSINIA HEAD OFFICE

Abstract

Organizational politics is typically described as behavior that prioritizes an individual's self- interest at the expense of others and the organization's objectives. This topic is particularly under-researched in the developing world, especially within banking sector office. Moreover, organizational politics has often been studied separately from state politics, despite their interconnected origins. This separation, largely driven by Western scholars, may stem from the prevailing belief in the division between state and politics and the shift of resource control from the public to the private sector. This study aims to examine the impact of four dimensions of perceived organizational politics General Political Behavior, Go Along to Get Ahead and Pay and Promotion on employee performance in Bank of Abyssinia head office located in Addis Ababa. Perceived organizational politics (POPs) were assessed using a tailored standard questionnaire that included additional items under the reward practice variable. In order to conduct the research, a descriptive and explanatory research design (mixed design) with a Quantitative approach was employed. Data were collected from a randomly selected sample of 298 employees and analyzed with both descriptive and inferential statistics. The findings indicate that General Political Behavior, Go Along to Get Ahead, and pay and promotion policy are negatively associated with and significantly undermine employee performance. This study tests the theories in a new context and contributes to the existing body of knowledge, while also suggesting areas for future research