Reward politics and withdrawal behaviour among university lecturers in northeast Nigeria

Abstract

This study examined the link between reward politics and withdrawal behaviour among university lecturers in North-East Nigeria. Data was collected by administering a well-defined questionnaire from a total of 371 respondents and a multistage sampling technique was employed in conducting the study. The raw data collected were analysed with the aid of the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 25 and statistic software partial least squares 4.0. The result of this study has found that reward politics has a strong relationship with withdrawal behaviour. The research was conducted through the lenses of the conservation of resources theory and social exchange theory. In the context of the conservation of resources theory, the study demonstrates that reward politics has a direct relationship with resource gain and loss while the social exchange theory suggests that the association between workers and their organisation is reciprocal, when workers receive good treatment, their attitude to work will also be positive and vice versa. The study has provided University administrators with an understanding of reward politics in universities and how it affects the psychological well-being of lecturers, often leading to withdrawal behaviour. The study recommends that university management shall deploy policies and culture that recognize, manage and control political actions to ensure friendliness among lecturers and success in any university system.