Factors Determining the Retention of Academic Staff in Universities

Abstract

This paper examines the critical factors that determine the retention of academic staff at Makerere and Kyambogo universities in Uganda. The study was prompted by reportedly persistent low levels of academic staff retention in the two public universities in the recent past. The investigation followed the positivist research paradigm. The study employed the descriptive cross-sectional survey design where data were collected using an adapted self-administered questionnaire from 298 academic staff proportionately drawn from the two universities studied. The staff respondents were sampled through stratified random sampling technique. The data were analysed with the use of descriptive statistics such as frequencies, percentages, means and standard deviations as well as inferential statistics like student t-test, Analysis of Variance (ANOVA), and regression analyses. Study findings revealed that respondent’s marital status (F = 0.288; p = 0.750 > 0.05), age (F = 0.748; p = 0.560 > 0.05), experience (F= 0.270; p = 0.841 > 0.05), education level (F = 0.528; p = 0.663 > 0.05), and interpersonal relationships (B = 0.003; p = 0.957 > 0.05) had statistically no significant effect on the retention of academic staff in the two universities. However, respondent’s gender (t = 2.556; p= 0.006 < 0.05), terms of work (B = 0.163; p = 0.005< 0.05) and work-life balance (B = 0.318; p= 0.000 < 0.05) were found to have statistically significant effects on the retention of academic staff. Thus, it was concluded that certain factors were more critical than others in determining the retention of academic staff, other factors notwithstanding. The researchers therefore recommended that the management of the two universities should design engendered policies that would improve on the terms of work, favourably treat men and women, and allow for optimal work-life balance amongst their academic staff.

Keywords: Academic staff, Retention, Factors, Demographic characteristics, Interpersonal relationships, Terms of work, Work-life balance

DOI: 10.7176/JEP/10-8-07

Publication date:March 31^st 2019