IZUCHUKWU JEREMIAH FRANCIS

Employee participation refers to employee involvement in decision making that is concerned with shared decision making in the workplace [Mitchell, 1973]. Employee involvement is defined by [Locke & Schweiger, 1979] as shared decision making between supervisors and subordinates. According to [Noah, 2008], it is a type of delegation in which the subordinate gains greater control and freedom of choice in terms of bridging the communication gap between management and workers. It refers to the level of employee involvement in the strategic planning activities of the organization. Employee involvement can be deep or shallow in a corporation [Barringer & Bleudorn, 1999]. Employee participation in the planning process leads to potential innovation, which may facilitate opportunity and recognition in the organization [Zivkovic et al., 2009]. Managers allow subordinates to participate in decision making based on their merits, which has been shown by researchers to boost organizational performance [Witte, 1980; Sagie & Aycon, 2003].