Motivation and retention of teachers in private secondary schools in Kenya

Abstract

Employee retention has become a key focus of the human resource professional agenda. Organizations and schools have come to the conclusion that money could be saved by reducing employee turnover. However, studies have been inconclusive on motivating factors that lower employee retention. The main objective of this study was to determine the influence of motivation on the retention of employees in secondary schools in Kenya. Based on an exhaustive review of literature, three constructs of motivation were taken into consideration namely management. The major hypothesis of the study was that motivation significantly influences the retention of teachers in private secondary schools. To test the hypothesis, three sub-hypotheses were developed; compensation significantly influences employee retention; supervision significantly influences employee retention and psychological contract significantly influences employee retention.  A mixed methodology approach was adopted and data was collected using a structured questionnaire and a structured interview guide. Descriptive statistics including frequencies, correlation analysis, and linear regression were applied to test the research hypotheses. The regression results indicate that motivation is causing a 7.0 percent variation in retention, implying a weak relationship. The weak relationship can be explained by poor salaries, authoritarian supervision, and breach of the psychological contract.