High commitment work practices, psychological contracts and turnover intention of public secondary school teachers in Nakuru County, Kenya

Abstract

Teachers form the backbone of the school success and performance. For teachers to be effective and efficient in their profession, they need to be highly devoted, inspired and develop low tumover intentions. However, Teachers Service Commission records indicate that Nakuru County teachers’ tumover rate rose from 11% in 2016 to 15% in 2018. The situation is not good to the teaching profession. Therefore, there was need to find out if the results apply to teachers in public secondary schools in Nakuru County. The general purpose of this study was to determine the effect of high commitment work practices (HCWP) on turnover intention of teachers in Public Secondary schools in Nakuru County, Kenya. The study also determined the moderating effect of Psychological contracts on the relationship between high commitment work practices and turnover intentions. This study used a cross- sectional survey design and was guided by two theories: Social Exchange theory and Theory of Planned Behavior. The target population comprised of 325 public secondary schools and 3452 public secondary school teachers in the nine (9) Sub-counties in Nakuru County. A proportionate stratified sample of 77 schools and 325 secondary school teachers were used. Data was collected using a questionnaire. Using Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) software, data collected was analyzed using descriptive statistics which included percentages, means and standard deviation while testing of hypotheses were carried out using inferential statistics which included Pearson’s product moment correlation coefficient and regression analyses at statistical significance level of 0.05. The findings showed that HCWP had a significant negative relationship with turnover intentions turnover intentions of teachers(F=8.457, p=0.000). The results also revealed that HCWP had a significant positive relationship with psychological contracts among teachers (F=l9.825, p=0.000). Fufiher, the results showed that psychological contracts had no significant effect on intentions to tumover (F:0.093, p=0.76l), however, the results indicate that psychological contract dimensions when separated had significant effect on intentions to turnover (F=55.333, p=0.000). Lastly, the results revealed that relational psychological contract and transactional psychological contract dimensions when separated had moderating effect on the relationship between HCWP and turnover intentions of teachers (F=24.927, p=0.000) and (F=30.052, p=0.000) respectively. The results of the study yielded crucial information that may inform the Ministry of Education, Teachers Service Commission, policy makers, board of management and school top managers on important measures to take in order to reduce turn over intentions and eventual turnover among teachers