The Effect of Job Satisfaction on Turnover Intentions: The Mediating Role of Organizational Commitment

Introduction

An integral part of management process is the management of people. A recognition that the human component and the organization are synonymous is essentially critical in understanding the importance of employees in an organization (Tella, 2007). A unique characteristic of effective organizations are those that ensure a cooperative spirit, sense of commitment and satisfaction within the sphere of its influence (Olusegun, 2013). Organizations must continually ensure the satisfaction of their employees in order to be successful. An important element in the maintenance of high performance and efficient service delivery in organizations that results in high productivity is job satisfaction (Olusegun, 2013).

Educational institutions are influential and important social institutions in society because they carry an effective and directive position in societal setup (Van den Berg, Manias & Burger, 2008). Higher educational institutions including private tertiary institutions contribute immensely to socio-economic development through the impartation of knowledge and training of students for future work (Van den Berg, Manias & Burger, 2008). Huselid (1995) stressed on the recognition of competent, motivated, steady and committed team of employees by organizations and their management.

Private University Colleges like all other organizations are faced with the challenge of constant and rapid pace of change. Some of these challenges encountered include rapidly changing technologies, competition, increased customer demands, new organizational structures and workforce diversity. In spite of these challenges, private tertiary institutions seek to achieve competitive advantage, increase productivity and maximization of wealth, and these benefits cannot be achieved when employees are not committed and satisfied with their jobs. Research into faculty satisfaction rate is essential because dissatisfaction of faculty can result in decreased productivity and affect the quality of work. Job satisfaction has been researched extensively because a large part of the lives of people are spent working (Gruneberg, 1979). Therefore, to improve the wellbeing of employees, a detailed comprehension of job satisfaction is vital as well as other concepts such as commitment and turnover intentions.

The proliferation of higher educational institutions including private tertiary institutions in Ghana makes academic staff and faculty members more likely to search for alternatives due to the possibility of high demand for them (Musah and Nkuah, 2013). A survey conducted in 2009 on labour turnover at the Tamale Polytechnic revealed that many of the senior members of the institution left in search of greener pastures in some universities (Musah and Nkuah, 2013). In addition, research conducted in tertiary institutions of South Africa revealed that such institutions were susceptible to losing their skilled and competent faculty members to well-paid offers from the private sector, as well as head-hunting by international tertiary educational institutions (Ngobeni and Bezuidenhout, 2011).

Considerable research conducted on job satisfaction in higher educational institutions has not focused on that of Private University Colleges. Therefore, this study seeks to examine the relationship between job satisfaction and turnover intentions of faculty members of Private University Colleges in Ghana and the effect of the moderating role of organizational commitment on the relationship between job satisfaction and turnover intentions. Thus, the study seeks to answer the following questions:

• 1.

  What is the effect of job satisfaction on organizational commitment of faculty of Private University Colleges in Ghana?

• 2.

  What is the effect of organizational commitment on the turnover intentions of faculty of Private University Colleges in Ghana?

• 3.

  What is the effect of job satisfaction on turnover intentions of faculty of Private University Colleges in Ghana?

• 4.

  What is the mediating effect of organizational commitment on the relationship between job satisfaction and turnover intention?