Abstract:
The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between job satisfaction, organisational commitment, turnover intention, absenteeism and work performance amongst the academics within South African universities of technology (UoTs). South African higher education has gone through numerous changes in terms of restructuring and transformation. Rapid changes of this nature within a higher education system necessitate alternative work restructuring and arrangements, which could have a potential negative influence on the behaviour of academic staff. Research addressing these problems on the academic staff within UoTs in the context of developing countries such as South Africa has remained scarce. This study, therefore, was conducted to fill this gap.
Universities of technology in South Africa employ approximately 2987 (N) academic employees. In order to measure the study constructs, the survey material was designed interactively in a form of a structured questionnaire. Participants were asked to complete five test instruments, namely, job satisfaction survey (JSS), organisational commitment questionnaire (OCQ), intention to stay questionnaire (ISQ), absenteeism questionnaire (AQ), and individual work performance questionnaire (IWPQ). 600 questionnaires were distributed to the identified sample of academics of which 494 (n) responded.
A correlation analysis was conducted to evaluate the strength and effect size of the relationship between the variables. The maximum correlation value between the constructs were 0.442 thus providing evidence of discriminate validity. Factor analysis was performed for organisational commitment questionnaire (OCQ) and individual work performance questionnaire (IWPQ) through statistical software package SPSS version 22.0. Organisational commitment revealed four factors and all of them accounted for satisfactory total variance explained of 65.2%. Work performance revealed three factors, which also accounted for satisfactory total variance explained of approximately 65%. The Mann-Whitney U-test was used to test whether males and females were similar in perception in terms of study constructs. Statistically significant differences were found between gender and four study constructs except work performance. The Kruskal-Wallis test was used to examine the differences of the various age categories, which revealed statistically significant differences between the various age categories and study constructs. The reliability results confirmed that all constructs reached the generally agreed upon minimum scale range for Cronbach’s alpha of 0.70. The confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was performed to establish scale accuracy. All measures conformed to acceptable model fit and composite reliability (CR) and revealed that the scales used in this study are reliable. Finally, the structural model was tested; seven postulated hypotheses were supported and one hypothesis (H8) that postulated the relationship between organisational commitment and work performance was rejected. As such, it was concluded that the conceptual model captured accurate relationships among the variables and that organisational commitment has no significant influence on work performance.
After reviewing the results, the conclusion was drawn that the study has both theoretical and practical value as envisaged. Theoretically, this research has contributed by further strengthening organisational commitment as a multidimensional construct. Contrary to some previous studies that reported high levels of significance between organisational commitment and work performance this study found no significance between these constructs. These results contribute more to the expanding body of knowledge. The current study added practical value by providing an integrative model that can be used as an important tool by management within the South African universities of technology to understand and manage job satisfaction, organisational commitment, turnover intention, absenteeism and work performance of academics. The results of this study can also be used for future organisational planning and policymaking. A number of recommendations have been made for the attention of relevant stakeholders in the academic environment. Future research possibilities and limitations of the study have also been highlighted.
