A Comparative Study on Psychological Contract and Affective Commitment of Catering Employees between Public and Private Universities in Nairobi City County, Kenya

Abstract

Psychological contract refers to employee’s perception as the implicit agreement between themselves and the organization that contains a shared responsibility between the two parties. It is different from the formal contract as it is implicit. Employee’s commitment is the ability to internalize and engage in achieving the goals of an organization. The purpose of the study was to establish and compare relationship on psychological contract and organizational commitment between public and private universities in Nairobi City County, Kenya, moderated by employee’s welfare initiatives. The study adopted a descriptive survey design where a sample size of 50 public and 50 private university catering employees from two universities in Nairobi City County, Kenya. Data collection instruments were questionnaires and interview guides. Qualitative data was coded and summarized in compilation sheets for easier analysis. Quantitative data was analyzed using SPSS with levels of significance established using paired tests with a cut-off point of p being < or =0.05 at 95% confidence and significance levels. The findings revealed that x2=18.84 df* = 3 and p=0.000 and 0.001 which are < 0.05, an indication that, there is a significant relationship between psychological contract and organizational commitment of university catering employees in both public and private universities in Nairobi City County, Kenya. This means that, psychological contract can be attributed to organizational commitment of public university catering employees in Nairobi City County, Kenya