Employees’ Work Attitudes as a Psychological Contract on Organizational Commitment: Case of a Public University in Kenya

Abstract

It is imperative that senior managers, as change agents, have a good understanding of the psychological contract and how it influences commitment towards their job and their organization. This study explained the concept of employees’ psychological work attitude on organizational commitment among the administrative staffs of Rongo University, Kenya. Questionnaires were used to collect data from the administrative staffs. Several employees consider their psychological contract with university as effective compared to those considered normative and continuance. The psychological contract is a determinant of organizational commitment among staff and in the case of Rongo University; there was indeed a psychological contract weakness that is mainly attributed to staff attitude and psychological rewards, thus causing a psychological contract breach. The study was premised on Contract as a Mental Model by Rousseau (1995); Attitude and Side Bet Theories. The study adopted quantitative method approach with a cross-sectional research design. The target population comprised of 108 administrative staffs of Rongo University. Krejcie and Morgan (1970) table of specification was used to determine the sample size of 89 administrative staffs. The reliability of the research instruments was determined using Cronbach’s Alpha and a coefficient of r˃.6 was reported. The data collected was analysed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) windows version 22 computer programme. Statistical tests, Pearson Product-Moment of Correlation and Regression were used to investigate the relationship between the variables. Participants’ confidentiality was promised and adhered to by the researcher. The study established that the psychological contracts in general accounted for 57.3% as signified by Adjusted coefficient of R 2 =.573, of the variation in organizational commitment among employees. The study recommends that employees’ psychological contracts and its dimensions have a significant effect on the employees work commitment and so the institutions should fulfil the psychological contracts made. The employees’ psychological work attitude should therefore build and maintain stable, well-adjusted motivational forces between administrators and the organizational commitments.