Effect of selected motivational factors on the job satisfaction of civil servants within government devolved functions in Nakuru County

Abstract

Employees’ job satisfaction is an old concept in industrial relations and is influenced by a number of factors. The Constitution of Kenya 2010 devolved some of the government functions to the County Governments. Employees working in the following devolved functions; Ministry of Health, Ministry of Water, Ministry of Agriculture and Ministry of Public works and roads among others were deployed to the County Government. The deployment to the counties had adverse effects among employees as exemplified by strikes of the employees of the Ministry of Health. The main objective of this study was to assess the effect of selected job motivational factors on civil servants’ job satisfaction within government devolved functions in Nakuru County. The target population was 1912 employees working in the devolved functions. The sample size of the study was 320 systematically picked across the devolved functions. The study used a close ended questionnaire as the main data collection tool. Both Pearson’s correlation and regression analyses were used to establish whether the selected motivational factors were related to the exiting level of employees’ job satisfaction. The study established that procedural justice significantly affected employees’ job satisfaction rejecting the null hypothesis that there is no significant relationship between procedural justice and job satisfaction of the employees working in the devolved functions. Further, employees working in the devolved functions were not affectively, cognitively and behaviorally satisfied with their jobs. Affectively, employees lacked a sense of belonging and emotional attachment to the County Government. Cognitively, employees did not value time spent in the County Government, co-workers, and failed to appreciate the benefit they get out of working in County Government and hence do not value the work they do. Behaviorally, employees were not willing to work in the County Government and actively sought for alternative employment elsewhere, came to work late, unwilling to work over-time and ready to participate in strikes. Finally, the study established that procedural justice and interactional justice contributed significantly to employees job satisfaction compared to communication and supervision. The study recommended that the County Government should re-design supervisory processes geared towards achieving fairness in dealing with employees.