This study examined the effect of organisational politics on employee citizenship behaviour, with specific focus on conscientiousness and courtesy, in selected listed food and beverage firms in Nigeria. The study adopted a descriptive survey design using primary data collected through a structured questionnaire from 250 employees drawn via stratified random sampling from a population of 2,200 staff across production, sales, marketing, administration, and finance departments. Data were analysed using SPSS version 25.0, employing descriptive statistics, correlation, and regression analysis. Findings revealed that perception of organisational politics was high among employees. Organisational politics had a significant negative effect on conscientiousness (β = –0.482, p < .001) and courtesy (β = –0.411, p < .001), explaining 28.3% of the variance in employee citizenship behaviour. Supervisor favouritism reduced diligence and discretionary effort, while co-worker rivalries weakened interpersonal respect and cooperation. The study concluded that unmanaged organisational politics erodes fairness and trust, thereby lowering conscientiousness and courtesy. It recommends institutionalizing transparency, ethical leadership training, team-based culture, anti-favouritism policies, and reward systems for citizenship behaviour to mitigate political effects and enhance workplace harmony.
Keywords: Conscientiousness, Courtesy, Nigeria, Organisational politics, employee citizenship behaviour, food and beverage firms
