EFFECT OF MERGER AND ACQUISITION ON THE EMPLOYEE MORALE

Abstract

The intent of this work was to investigate the effect of merger and acquisition on employee morale. Herewith, employee turnover, job satisfaction and employee confidence was used as the other adjoining dependent variables to proxy employee morale. The study adopted descriptive research design and utilized survey model of data collection with the help of a well structured questionnaire. Access Bank and FCMB were the target institutions of study owing to the fact that they both have undergone the process of merger and acquisition. The population of the study was the staff of three (3) selected branches each of the afore mentioned banks in Benin city, constituting a total of 150 employees. By the use Taro Yamani's formula, a sample of sixty (60) was derived. Therefore, a total of sixty (60) questionnaires was printed and distributed conveniently across the chosen branches, which was all filled, returned and found useable.

This research went on to use the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 22.0 software to analyze the collected data. This was presented using frequency, means, standard deviation, percentages , correlation and regression analysis. The reliability of the study was measured using the Cronbach's Alpha test. The study revealed that there is a negative and statistically significant relationship between merger and acquisition and employee morale, same with the other mentioned dependent variables. This means that employee morale, job satisfaction, employee confidence and turnover are crucial landmarks to consider well while engaging in a merger and acquisition process. This study will be of immense help particularly for banks which may wish to embark upon merger and acquisition in the future