Influence of Perceived Organizational Politics in Promotion Process on Lecturers’ Job Performance at Public Universities in Kenya: A Case of The University of Nairobi

Abstract

University education has remained a single higher institution that countries rely on for the preparation and skill development reservoir of highly skilled labour force that is much needed to spur economic development through research, teaching and innovation. Universities therefore across the world act as bases of knowledge and hubs for research, information, and expertise productions in all the fields. This requires the performance of qualified and committed academic staff actualize this role. However, the performance of this significant cadre at public universities for instance, is affected by many other factors including organizational politics. The aim of this study was to evaluate the influence of perceived organizational politics in promotion process on lecturers’ job performance at public universities in Kenya, a case of the University of Nairobi. The study was guided by two objectives: to examine the influence of nepotism in the process of lecturers’ promotion and to determine the influence of perceived ethnicity on lecturers’ job performance at the University of Nairobi. Sampling techniques used to sample 11 deans of faculties, 19 chairs of the departments and 100 lecturers and 100 post graduate students were purposive and stratified proportionate sampling and simple random sampling techniques. The main instruments utilized to gather data from respondents for this study were interview guide, open and closed-ended questionnaire, document analysis and focus group discussion. The data was analyzed using both qualitative and quantitative techniques. The study established that although there were equal promotion opportunities for both men and female academic staff, the promotion process of the academic staff was perceived to be unfair because it lacked transparency and that patronage and ethnic politics existed. This was perceived to have negative influence on performance. The study concluded that perception of organizational politics in promotion process had negative influence on lecturers’ job performance at public universities in Kenya. The study recommends that higher education institutions should ensure fairness and transparency in the promotion process of staff in order to enhance effective lecturers’ performance. It is also recommended that a similar study should be carried out in private universities with different management systems to compare the findings since this study focused on public universities.