Training as a Determinant of Employee Commitment: A Survey of KTDA Tea Factories in Kenya.

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the determinants of employee commitment in tea organizations in Kenya. Observations among 54 enlisted KTDA tea factories in Kenya show high disparity in average payment of tea deliveries (bonus) over a three year period 2009 to 2012. According to Tiampati (2012) strong employee commitment is correlated with high productivity, while low commitment lowers productivity. The primary objective of this research was to determine the influence of training aspects on employee commitment in tea factories in Kenya. To achieve this objective a survey was conducted to canvas the opinions of respondents in public KTDA tea factories in Kenya. Purposive sampling was employed to select six (6) factories based on second payment known as bonus; with three (3) high paying and three (3) low paying. Stratified sampling technique was used to categorize population into managers and employees. Random sampling was used to give the sample size of employees. A total of 273 respondents were randomly selected from a population frame of 861 employees. Qualitative and quantitative data was collected by use of self-administered structured questionnaires and interview schedule. Analysis of data showed low paying factories had a lower average mean in all aspects of training 46.25% compared to high paying at average mean 76.34%.Further analysis using Spearman’s rank correlation test revealed significant relationship (P=0.00<0.01) between training and commitment. It was recommended that training needs should be conducted periodically so as to organize specific training programmes for improving skills, competence and built employee commitment.).The findings of this study will help management with intervention strategies to put in place human resource practices like training that enhance employee commitment to increase efficiency and productivity for better financial gains.

Key words: Training, Employees, Commitment, Organization, Enlisted factories