Perceived Organisational Support on Academic Employee Commitment in Top Public Universities in Kenya

Abstract

Institutions of higher learning in Kenya operate in a demanding industrial environment of exhausting competition. The challenges confronting Public Universities in Kenya may include poor workers’ commitment attributable to poor compensation packages, distressing working environments, disproportionate reward systems, unpalatable leadership styles, and defective support structures. The research used Perceived Organisational Support to influence Academic Employee Commitment in Top Public Universities in Kenya. The specific aims of the research were to determine how working environments, organisational rewards, organisational justice, and supervisors’ support systems drive academic employee commitment in Kenya’s Public Universities. The research used the Equity Theory, Handy and Harrison’s Theories of Culture, Herzberg’s Two-Factor Theory, Procedural Justice Theory, and Social Exchange Theory. The sample population comprises all academic employees from the selected seven public Universities in Kenya. A designed 5-point Likert-scale questionnaire was validated and used to gather data for the research. The questionnaire and interview guide were designed and delivered to lecturers and heads of departments in a public university outside those chosen for the thesis to assess the reliability, viability, and validity of the data-gathering instruments. The pilot study was conducted to adjust the questionnaire. The adjusted questionnaire design was applied to randomly sample all the subgroups of University lecturers to ensure sufficient representation in the sample. The questionnaire was arranged and grouped according to the specific research objectives. Out of the 400 questionnaires administered by trained Research Assistants and the researcher, 288 (80.4% of the anticipated 358) samples were used for analysis. The Cronbach’s alpha reliability, analysis of variance, explanatory, and inferential statistics were determined by the statistical package for the social sciences (SPSS 25th Edition). The study indicates that supervisors’ support, working conditions, organisational rewards, and organisational justice explain academic employee commitment. Also, organisational justice had the predominant relationship over academic employee commitment, followed by organisational rewards, supervisors’ support, and working conditions, which indicate that perceptions of fairness and equity in the workplace are vital for fostering commitment among academic employees in Kenya. The findings suggest that supervisors’ support, working conditions, organisational rewards, and organisational justice were all important factors influencing academic employee commitment in the chosen Public Universities in Kenya. This research contributes to understanding academic employee commitment in the chosen Public Universities in Kenya because it has practical implications for universities in East Africa and adds to the limited literature on workers’ commitment and perceived organisational support in Africa. The study has also empirically, methodically, and optimally (optimal model development) contributed to perceived organisation support and academic employee commitment. Cumulatively, the power of organisation culture on working conditions, organisation rewards, organisation justice, and supervisor’s support provided 92.0% influence on academic employee commitment in Public Universities in Kenya. Future research can consider the interplay of other factors like employment demands over employee commitment and investigate the generalisability of these findings.