Page 1 of 17
Journal for Studies in Management and Planning
Available at http://internationaljournalofresearch.org/index.php/JSMaP
e-ISSN: 2395-0463
Volume 01 Issue 11
December 2015
Available online: http://internationaljournalofresearch.org/ P a g e | 141
Impact of Career Development Practices on Employee Engagement
among Teachers in Public Secondary Schools in Kenya
Sharon Matama Gichaba
Kisii University
ABSTRACT
The satisfaction and engagement of teachers are
important factors that can enhance sustained
provision of quality education. A country’s
economic, socio-cultural and business
competitiveness is driven by the education sector
development. An environment that nurtures job
satisfaction will inevitably drive up the levels of
organizational engagement, especially the
affective engagement which will reduce turnover
rates and consequent reduction of economic
costs associated with replacement and training
of new hires. Enrolment of students has
massively increased with the introduction of free
primary education in Kenya, leading to
increased student population pressure on public
secondary school facilities. This has contributed
to decreased job satisfaction levels and high
turnover rates among secondary school
teachers. The study examined the effect of four
job satisfaction determinants on engagement of
teachers in public secondary schools in Kenya
with the employee’s age as a moderating
variable. Based on the study, this paper
examines two of them, namely reward and
career development. The study adopted a
descriptive cross-sectional design, covering a
target population of 62,533 teachers drawn from
5210 public secondary schools in Kenya.
Stratified sampling involving multi-stage cluster
sampling technique was used by selecting 5
counties randomly from the 47 counties which
was the first cluster. The number of respondents
that constituted the sample size using Fischer’s
calculation of sample sizes drawn from very
large populations was 384 teachers. From each
school, a sample of 4 respondents, comprising
the head teacher or deputy head teacher and 3
teachers was randomly selected and 96 schools
was the total number of schools constituting the
random sample for the study. Data was collected
through the use of self-administered
questionnaires that were distributed to
respondents at their work stations. Data
analysis involved descriptive statistics and
inferential statistical tools. Descriptive
statistical tools were used to determine and
explain the status of the variables while
inferential statistics were to explain the
relationships between the variables. The study
findings are presented using tables and charts.
The study findings revealed that Based on the
findings of the study, it is clear that rewards do
significantly influence teacher engagement.
Indeed, most of the schools have experienced
low teacher engagement due to unsatisfactory
rewards in the past. Moreover, majority of
teachers are not satisfied with the rewards
offered in their teaching jobs. The study findings
further showed that career development efforts
by the employer are minimal in most schools. As
a result, most of the schools have in the past
experienced incidences of low teacher
engagement attributed to lack of career
development opportunities. Indeed, majority of
teachers regard their level of satisfaction as very
low with respect to current career development
opportunities offered.
Keywords: Rewards, Career Development,
Employee Engagement, Teachers, Public
Secondary Schools, Kenya
Page 2 of 17
Journal for Studies in Management and Planning
Available at http://internationaljournalofresearch.org/index.php/JSMaP
e-ISSN: 2395-0463
Volume 01 Issue 11
December 2015
Available online: http://internationaljournalofresearch.org/ P a g e | 142
INTRODUCTION
Employee engagement refers to complete
dedication to both the organization and type of
work. According to Morrow (1983), work
engagement includes work ethic, career
engagement, organizational engagement
(affective and continuance) and job
involvement. Morrow (1983) left out the concept
of normative engagement by including work
ethic principles to indicate the degree of work
engagement among employees. Work ethic, also
called the Protestant work ethic (PWE), has been
defined “as a value or belief concerning the
place of work in one’s life that either serves as a
conscious guide to conduct or is simply implied
in manifested attitudes and behavior” (Siegel, as
cited in Awolusi, 2013). “Individuals with a
strong work ethic are committed to the values of
hard work and embrace the Calvinistic tradition
of frugality, hard work, conservatism, and
success” (Weber, as cited in Awolusi, 2013).
Lodahl and Kejner (1965) define job
involvement as the degree of daily absorption a
worker experiences in work activity. Job
involvement leads individuals to exceed the
normal job expectations (Moorhead & Griffin,
1995) and is a key component in employee
motivation (Lawler, 1986).
Hurter (2008) places employees in four
categories, namely ambassadors, company
oriented, career oriented, and uncommitted.
Ambassadors are highly motivated and
committed to both organization and type of
work. Company oriented employees are
committed to the organization, but not to the
type of work and may show less than optimal
productivity. Career oriented employees are
uncommitted to the organization but committed
to the type of work. They are highly productive
but likely to move to other organizations.
Uncommitted employees are uncommitted to
both the organization and type of work.
Many scholars, especially in the Western
capitalist countries, confine employee
engagement studies to the organizational
approach or view anchored around explanations
of differences in competitiveness attributed to
management practices unique to an organization.
Differences in management practices may
influence the nature of work, employee
satisfaction levels and consequently employee
engagement. Interest in organizational
engagement has been stimulated largely by its
demonstrated positive relationship to work
behaviours such as job satisfaction, high
productivity, and low turnover (Cohen, 2003).
Herscovitch and Meyer (2002) define
organizational engagement as the degree to
which an employee identifies with the goals and
values of the organization and is willing to exert
effort to help it succeed. “Organizational
engagement influences behavior independently
of other motives and attitudes, and may lead to
persistence to a course of action even if this
Page 3 of 17
Journal for Studies in Management and Planning
Available at http://internationaljournalofresearch.org/index.php/JSMaP
e-ISSN: 2395-0463
Volume 01 Issue 11
December 2015
Available online: http://internationaljournalofresearch.org/ P a g e | 143
conflicts with motives” (Meyer et al., 2004;
Meyer & Herscovitch, 2001).
According to Edwards (2005), in high
engagement organizations, employees deliver
value in three distinct ways: (a) Persistence –
longer tenure, reduced absence, improved
punctuality, reduced stress; (b) Citizenship –
more ethical behaviours, spontaneous
ambassadorship, more proactive support for
others, increased discretionary effort, and (c)
Performance – greater productivity, enhanced
customer service, improved quality, higher
outputs. These three distinct ways are inevitably
influenced to a great degree by the job
satisfaction levels enjoyed by an employee. Thus
many scholars have demonstrated the positive
influence of job satisfaction on employee
engagement, though there are exceptions in
some cases. An employee may be committed to
the organization due to the fear of losing
existing privileges without experiencing job
satisfaction.
Bateman and Strasser (1984) define
organizational engagement as multi-dimensional
in nature along loyalty, effort, value and goals
congruency and membership. Buchanan (1974)
defines engagement as being the bond between
the individual (employee) and the organization
(employer). Gharakhani and Eslami (2012) state
that organizational engagement is viewed as an
attitude of attachment to the organization by an
employee, which leads to particular job-related
behaviours such as work absenteeism, job
satisfaction, turnover intensions, organizational
citizen behaviours, work motivation and work
performance. Meyer and Allen (1991) and
Dunham et al. (1994) identify three forms of
organizational engagement, namely affective
engagement, continuance engagement and
normative engagement. Affective engagement is
defined as the emotional attachment,
identification and involvement that an employee
has with its organization and goals (Mowday et
al., 1997; Meyer & Allen, 1993).
Continuance engagement is the willingness to
remain in an organization because of the
investment that the employee has with
“nontransferable” investments. Non-transferable
investments include things such as pension
benefits, seniority, special competencies unique
to the firm, relationships with other employees,
or things that are special to the organization
(Reichers, 1985). Normative engagement is the
engagement or feeling of obligation and loyalty
by an employee to his/her workplace (Bolon,
1993).
Employee engagement refers to the employee’s
emotional attachment to, identification with, and
involvement in the organization. In essence,
measuring organizational engagement is an
assessment of the congruence between an
individual’s own values and beliefs and those of
the organization (Swailes, 2002). Organizational
engagement is characterized as employees’
