Supervision processes and employee reactions : a study of selected indigenous banks in the Western region of Ghana

Abstract

This study sought to evaluate the context of supervision processes and employees’ reactions in selected indigenous banks within the Western Region of Ghana. Grounded on leader-member exchange (LMX), norm of reciprocity, and social support theories, the specific objectives covered the relationships among dysfunctional supervision processes, high-performing employees (HPEs), employee silence and employee alienation, the mediating role of HPEs, and the moderating roles of promotion practices and political skill. Adopting an explanatory sequential mixed methods design and multistage cluster sampling to select 227 participants for the quantitative study, a questionnaire was utilised to collect data on a cross-sectional basis, while an interview schedule was applied to collect qualitative data from 20 participants selected using a purposive sampling technique. SmartPLS 4 was used to analyse quantitative data, while content analysis was used for qualitative data. The combined results depict the findings as follows: i). Dysfunctional supervision processes undermined the performance of HPEs. ii) Employee silence and employee alienation were adopted as nonconfrontational strategies to respond to dysfunctional supervisory behaviours. iii). Dysfunctional supervision processes indirectly encouraged subordinates to adopt employee silence and employee alienation by diminishing HPEs’ positive attributes. iv). Promotion practices strengthen the role HPEs play in reducing employee silence, but not employee alienation. v). Political skill did not strengthen to the extent that dysfunctional supervision processes diminish the performance of HPEs. vi). A model on dysfunctional supervision processes and employee reactions was developed to clarify the relationships among the constructs to be used within the indigenous banking sector in Ghana. Based on these findings, the study recommends that management in indigenous institutions in Ghana: (i), prioritise leadership development programs to promote ethical and supportive supervision; (ii), proactively recognise and reward HPEs who exemplify openness, collaboration, and knowledge sharing, as signals to employees that speaking up and supporting colleagues are valued and rewarded; and (ii), to ensure that promotion decisions are predicated on fair and clear performance criteria to encourage employees to collaborate, share information and ideas, thereby reducing employee silence.