PERCEIVED ORGANIZATIONAL SUPPORT AS A PANACEA FOR GOOD EMPLOYEE PERFORMANCE: A BANKING CONTEXT

Perceived Organization Prestige (POS) defines how employees feel that the organization(s) they work in appreciate and value their effort, and hence determines their performance and that of the organization at large. Therefore, this study examined POS as measured by employee recognition and how it impacts employees' task performance in selected deposit money banks in Southeast Nigeria. A survey research design was adopted by the study.  A total of 10 banks were selected for this study with a population of 789 and it had a sample size of 257. A structured questionnaire was used in data collection and analyzed using correlation analysis, while the hypothesis was tested at a 5% level of significance. Findings showed that employee recognition has a statistically significant positive nexus with task performance in the selected deposit money banks in South East Nigeria (r = .974, p-value < 0.05). It is, therefore, concluded that POS is positively and significantly related to employee task performance. The study recommended that the management of the studied banks need to be recognizing exceptional performance in the presence of others as it will motivate them to continue while encouraging others to put in more effort so as to also get recognized. Keywords: Perceived Organizational Support, Employee Task Performance, Employee Recognition, Banks and Nigeria.