Political Behavior and Employee Perceived Performance in the Private Sector : A Comparative Study of Zenith Bank and First Bank Plc, South East Nigeria

Politics is a natural occurrence in organizations and when carried to the extreme, it can damage relationships among individuals; this study sought to identify the effect political behavior has on employee performance. The population studied consists of 400 staff of the selected banks based in South-East Nigeria. The descriptive research approach was adopted and a questionnaire was structured and distributed through stratified random sampling to participants of the two firms using a five-point Likert scale. Taro Yamane formula was used to calculate the sample size at 5% level of precision. Z- test statistics were used to analyze the data. The rationale for using this is to compare the different population of mean existing within the groups and between the groups. In the case of Zenith Bank Plc, the study found that Z-calculated value (2.076) was greater than Z-tabulated (2.048) value at 5% a significant level of precision. Based on the result, the decision rule was applied to reject the null hypothesis and accept the alternative hypothesis. In the case of First Bank Plc, the study found that Z-calculated (1.144) value was greater than Z-tabulated (2.048) value at 5 % significant level of precision. Decision rule was applied to accept the null hypothesis and reject the alternate hypothesis. Comparing the result of the two private firms, the study concluded that there exists a strong significant relationship between political behavior and employee perceived performance in Zenith Bank Plc; the study also found that there exists no significant relationship between political behavior and employee perceived performance. The study recommends that political behavior can be avoided by maintaining level playing ground that can accommodate everyone, achieved by designing good working conditions based on ethical standards. Again, open communication can limit the impact of political behavior; and to control politics in the workplace, organizational leaders must be aware of its causes and techniques