ORGANISATIONAL FACTORS AND EMPLOYEE COMMITMENT IN THE WORKPLACE: A CASE STUDY OF KOLE DISTRICT LOCAL GOVERNMENT

Abstract

The study was to determine the influence of organizational factors on employee commitment in Kole District Local Government. The salary increment and spending on staff plus staff incentives seem not to have effect on employee commitment. The researcher wants to establish the factors responsible for employee commitment in Public Service in Kole District. Objectives were to establish the influence of work environment, training and rewards on employee commitment. Intermediate variable being culture and beliefs; and the dependent variable was employee commitment. The study used a case study design; adopting both qualitative and quantitative approaches using a sample of 317 respondents. Data was collected using self-administered questionnaires and interview guide. Quantitative data was analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics to test the influence of independent variable on the dependent variable. Qualitative data was analyzed through thematic analysis and generation of themes in a narrative form. The study findings revealed that work environment, training and rewards significantly affect employee commitment. The conclusions were; work environment needed more management attention since it registered the lowest correlation coefficient, need to take training needs assessment seriously by top management since staff nomination for training has been recorded poor, need to address in house variations of salaries. These scenarios could explain the low commitment levels of Kole DLG employees. The study recommends that Kole DLG needs to widen its local revenue base so as to improve on its infrastructure; there is need for a review on its selection criterion for training, and management need to cooperate with ULGA for a salary review drive.