Impact of Political Interference on Recruitment Processes and Employee Performance: A Case Study of Federal Polytechnic, Offa
https://doi.org/10.56225/ijassh.v4i4.460
Keywords:
Political Interference, Public Sector Recruitment, Meritocracy, Organizational PerformanceAbstract
Despite civil service reforms aimed at promoting merit-based recruitment, political influence continues to affect hiring decisions in many public institutions, including Federal Polytechnic, Offa. Such interference undermines the integrity of recruitment processes, as external political pressures and patronage networks often determine appointments rather than competence and merit. This study examined the impact of political interference on the recruitment process and employee performance at Federal Polytechnic, Offa. The population consisted of 635 staff members, from which a sample size of 240 was determined using Krejcie and Morgan’s (1970) formula. A total of 227 valid questionnaires were retrieved and analyzed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS-25). The descriptive results revealed that 66.1% of respondents agreed that political interference undermines fairness and credibility in recruitment, while 69.6% believed recruitment processes are manipulated to favor politically connected individuals. Additionally, 64.7% of respondents indicated that political interference reduces transparency and accountability, whereas 83.3% agreed that merit-based recruitment enhances productivity and organizational efficiency. Although teamwork appeared relatively unaffected (63.5% disagreed that politically influenced recruitment disrupts cooperation), political interference was widely perceived as a major factor contributing to institutional inefficiency. The correlation analysis revealed a strong and statistically significant relationship between political interference and employee performance. Similarly, the regression analysis indicated that political interference significantly predicts employee performance, explaining approximately 87% of the variance (R² = 0.870). The study concludes that political interference significantly affects recruitment integrity and employee performance in public tertiary institutions.
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