Organisational Politics and University Governance: A Study of Staff Perceptions in Cross River State, Nigeria

Abstract

The study investigated the impact of staff perceptions of organisational politics on the management of universities in Cross River State, Nigeria. The study adopted a descriptive survey design. The population of the study consisted of 9,200 teaching and non-teaching staff members from three universities in Cross River State. The sample size was 373 respondents, selected using a multistage sampling technique and the Krejcie and Morgan Table. Furthermore, a simple random sampling technique was used to select the actual respondents for the study. The instrument used for data collection was a researcher-developed questionnaire titled Perception of Organisational Politics on Management of University Questionnaire (POPMUQ). The instrument had a validity index of 0.77, and a reliability coefficient of 0.75 was obtained using the Cronbach alpha method. Mean and standard deviation were used to answer the research questions, while a one-sample t-test was used to test the hypotheses at a 0.05 level of significance. The findings of the study indicated that staff perceptions of the appointment of heads of departments had a significant positive impact on the management of universities in Cross River State. Similarly, staff perceptions of recruitment also had a significant positive impact on university management in the state. Based on these findings, it was recommended that, to enhance effective university management in Cross River State, Vice-Chancellors should appoint heads of departments based on merit to avoid the selection of mediocre staff who may not make meaningful contributions to the efficient administration of the universities.