Psychological Capital and Job Satisfaction as Predictors of Teacher Turnover Intention in Public Secondary Schools in Garissa County, Kenya
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Date
2024-05
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Kenyatta University
Abstract
Teachers’ turnover intention can have a devastating impact on the quality of education. Educational statistics from Education International (2019), show that approximately 45% of teachers want to leave teaching profession in Kenya. The situation is dire in some counties like Garissa County where a high turnover rate of approximately 60% among secondary school teachers has been reported by the TSC. High turnover intention which is a precursor to actual turnover has been reported in Garissa County. For instance, in IJara Sub-County 40-62% of secondary school teachers seek transfers every year. Findings from previous studies show that psychological capital and job satisfaction play a vital role in reducing turnover intention among the teachers. Despite these findings, there is a dearth of studies linking the two predictors to secondary school teachers’ turnover intention in Garissa County. In view of this, the current study examined teacher psychological capital (PsyCap) and job satisfaction as predictors of turnover intention among secondary school teachers in Garissa County. The study was guided by the following objectives: to establish the relationship between psychological capital and teacher turnover intention, to establish the relationship between job satisfaction and teacher turnover intention, to determine the prediction of teacher turnover intention from the teacher psychological capital and job satisfaction, and lastly to establish gender differences on teacher psychological capital, and job satisfaction. The study was anchored on Herzberg motivation theory (Herzberg et al., 1959), and conservation of resources theory (Hobfoll, 1998). A correlational research design was utilized. The study’s target population was 239 teachers in all the 33 public secondary schools in Garissa County. The accessible population was 85 teachers from Ijara Sub-County in Garissa County from which a sample of 80 teachers was drawn to take part in this study. Three sampling methods, namely, purposive, stratified random sampling and simple random sampling was used. The researcher used a sample of 10 teachers drawn from one public secondary school to pretest the questionnaires to ascertain the reliability and validity. Questionnaires were used to collect data. Demographic data was analyzed using descriptive methods. Testing of hypotheses was done through the use of inferential techniques including Pearson Correlation, independent sample t-test and regression. The results showed a significant moderate negative correlation between overall psychological capital and teacher turnover intention (r(77) =-.30, P = .00). All the dimensions of psychological capital were negatively correlated with turnover intention but only the correlations for hope (r (77) =-.35, P = .00) and optimism (r (77) = -.37, P = .00) were significant. Also, a significant strong negative correlation between job satisfaction and teacher turnover intention was found (r (77) =-.75, P = .00). Both dimensions of job satisfaction had significant negative correlations with turnover intention with the positive aspect (r (77) =-.49, P = .00) having a stronger correlation than the negative aspect(r (77) =-.72, P = .00). Regression analysis revealed that the model for predicting teacher turnover intention from both job satisfaction and psychological capital was significant (F (2, 75) = 50.45, p< .05). Unexpectedly, psychological capital contributed positively to prediction of turnover intention (β =.08, t = .93, p = .36). However, the most important finding was that job satisfaction contributed negatively to prediction of turnover intention (β =-79, t = -9.21, p = .00). Lastly, the study found that the means of male and female respondents did not significantly differ from each other in all the three variables. These findings suggested that increasing and developing psychological capital traits especially, hope and optimism among teachers will lead to with a reduction in their intention to leave. Also, increasing teachers’ job satisfaction will lower their turnover intentions. The findings of the present study also suggested that job satisfaction was the most important predictor of turnover intention and that gender opinions did not impact teachers’ level of psychological capital, job satisfaction and turnover intention. Therefore, the study recommends the development of interventions targeted at increasing Psychological Capital and job satisfaction among teachers to reduce turnover intention and consequently actual turnover.
Description
A Research Project Submitted in Partial Fulfilment of the Requirement for Award of the Masters of Education Degree in Guidance and Counselling in the School of Education of Kenyatta University, May 2024.