Factors Determining Academic Staff Motivation and Retention: Experience from Selected Universities

Abstract

The academic staff of higher education institution is a key resource to institution's success. Colleges and universities are fighting for high-caliber Academic staff in order to improve the quality of teaching and gaining excellent reputation. Many academic staff are specialists in their disciplines, have attained great academic heights and are hard to come by. Because their jobs have national and global relevance, they tend to be very mobile. Academic staff motivation and retention have always been the major challenges being faced by almost every academic university across the globe. Specifically, the study aimed at examining the factors affecting academic staff motivation and retention. The study used cross-sectional research design whereas data were gathered using questionnaires and interviews. Data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. The study found that unmet academic staff expectations are leading factors followed by unsteady promotion practices, feedback system, and training and development. MUCE seems to have relatively higher motivation and retention than RUCU and UoI. It is imperative for universities to keep an eye on issues that may bring about academic staff turnover and be vigilant.