Abstract:
Lack of career advancement in most institutions of higher learning is an area of great interest and concern. Coupled with that, Kenyan universities have been faced with a multiplicity of challenges among them being employee and student strikes. All this have been linked to organizational politics. Therefore, the purpose of the study was to examine the influence of organizational politics on career development among administrative staff in public universities: a case of University of Eldoret (UOE) in Eldoret, Kenya. The specific objectives of the study were to: determine the influence of patronage on career development among administrative staff in public universities; examine the influence of Gender Perceptions on career development among administrative staff in public universities; determine the influence of Information power on career development among administrative staff in public universities and examine the influence of Management Decision Making on career development among administrative staff in public universities. A case study research design was adopted for the study. A census sampling technique was employed where the entire target population of 134 was used. However, 130 questionnaires were returned to the researcher. Questionnaires containing closed ended questions with the help of Likert scales were used. Data analysis was done using descriptive and Spearman correlation. Presentation of the findings was in form of tables and graphs. Results indicated that majority of the respondents agreed that patronage (ethnicity, tribalism, favorism and biasness) was practiced at UOE. Similarly, most respondents agreed that information control and decision making did not favor them. The study further revealed that patronage, decision making and information control recorded a negative significant association (r=- .977, -.537 and -.691 respectively) with career development. Gender reported an insignificant (p>0.05; r=0.0136) effect on career development. The study has recommended among other things, that institutions of higher learning should adopt flexible structure and systems to reduce the effect of organization politics on career development of their employees.
