The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.
This study did not require formal ethics approval.
Data sharing is not applicable to this article.
The authors received no specific funding for this work.
The purpose of this study has focused on what kind of impact rewards and supervisor support has on turnover intentions that had been developed by university lecturers and how affective commitment plays a mediating role in the reduction of turnover intentions by university lecturers in universities of Islamabad. The quantitative technique was used to collect data from a sample of 278 university lecturers of both public and private universities in Islamabad through close-ended questionnaires. Stratified simple random sampling technique was implemented in this study. The data was analyzed through correlation and regression analysis while using SPSS. For mediation, the Preacher and Hayes Test has been used to check the mediation effect of affective commitment between independent and dependent variables used in this study. Findings show that rewards and supervisor support played a pivotal role in the reduction of turnover intentions among lecturers and developed a stronger level of affective commitment for their respective universities.
Education has crucial importance when it comes to developing a society that follows certain norms and principles as Mehmood and Shafique (2010) emphasized that through education, there can be a reduction in poverty levels and also removing the barriers that develop inequality so that a stable and strong foundation can be built that leads towards sustainable economic growth for the future generations. HEC had played a role in the development of modern infrastructure that meets the needs of modern higher education, cultivating a research environment, focusing on the unique fields of entrepreneurship, and maintaining quality assurance in different universities, operating under the regulation of HEC as reported by the Economic Survey of Pakistan (2018-2019). Regarding the number of institutions in Pakistan, there are 194 universities in the public sector and also in private. In 2018-19, the number of university teachers in Pakistan was 53.9 thousand, which is less than the previous year in 2017-18 in which the number of university teachers was 56.9 thousand. These figures show that overall, in Pakistan, the problem of turnover among university teachers is there. But the figures regarding the turnover rate or “job hopping” of university faculty in Pakistan, Saleem and Qamar (2017) had highlighted an alarming fact of limited data on statistics regarding the turnover rate of university teachers in Pakistan. The role of rewards has been considered a critical aspect of the engagement of employees, as highlighted by Mesepy (2016). Furthermore, Imran, Ahmad, Nisar and Ahmad (2014) had also explained the fact that when there comes a need to motivate and engage the employees especially working even in libraries, there should be given due rewards and recognition to them so that they can work productively for the organization. Azeez & Lawal (2016) had highlighted the importance of rewards and found out that when the university staff employees receive their rewards, mainly financial rewards on the basis of their performance, it helps in reduction of their turnover intentions among the employees, thus leading to less turnover. For the employees to get engaged in their job, the role of supervisor also became crucial as Sultana, Rabie, Farooq and Amjad (2016) had mentioned that they are the crucial members of the management and they have the responsibility to play a crucial role towards the training and overall development of employees in the organization. Furthermore, Li (2018) found out in the Chinese higher education context that when the university faculty perceives that their supervisors are not only supportive but also encouraging them in a positive way, the affective commitment of the faculty increases. Rizwan, Sajid, Kamran, Mohsin, Ali and Sajid (2013) had clarified the relation between turnover intentions and turnover as they mentioned that in most of the studies related to turnover intention, the phenomena of turnover intention had been found as the key antecedent of turnover, which is also sometimes referred as the actual turnover. The turnover has become a major issue in recent years. Saraih, Ain, Sakdan and Ahmad (2016) highlighted the importance of turnover intentions and mentioned that among the researchers in the field of management, turnover intentions had become the focal area for researchers. Ainer, Subramaniam and Arokiasamy (2018) highlighted that this problem should be given due attention. Furthermore, Afzal et al. (2019) also highlighted the importance of turnover intentions and found out that the problem of turnover intentions had been very critical that the task performance of the faculty also gets affected when they don’t receive the supervisor support. In Pakistan, as reported by Siddiqui (2010), there has been a tough challenge for the universities in this decade regarding the retention of quality lecturers.
Problem Statement
In higher education, the problem of turnover had grabbed the attention in recent times as Li et al., (2017) had mentioned that turnover among the faculty had become a major headache for the university administration. The main reasons that led to a turnover of university faculty had been related to some of the factors that developed the turnover intentions among these teachers in which one factor is the lack of giving rewards to the university faculty as Azeez & Lawal (2016) had highlighted the importance of rewards and found out that when the university faculty receive rewards, mainly financial rewards on the basis of their performance, it helps in reduction of turnover intentions thus leading to less turnover. In the Pakistani context, the problem of turnover has been on the rise among the higher education institutions as in the universities of Punjab, Nawaz et al. (2019) had found out that when the university administration gave less attention to giving rewards and providing minimum growth opportunities to university teachers, the organizational commitment of such teachers goes lower, leading to higher turnover intentions. Furthermore, in the Pakistani context, Afzal et al. (2019) highlighted the need in their study that in order to investigate further regarding how to reduce the issue of turnover and the intentions developed by university lecturers who teach in public and private universities of Islamabad, supervisor support needs to be investigated with turnover intentions. Also, Khalid and Aftab (2017) had recommended that affective commitment can be considered as a mediator to be investigated with turnover intentions among the university lecturers in Pakistan, particularly in Islamabad.
Gap Analysis
Though previous studies had only examined the relationship of rewards with turnover intentions in not only public sector but private sector organizations as well including banking, education and healthcare sector in China (Nazir, Shafi, Qun, Nazir & Tran,2016), the hotel industry in Turkey ( Akgunduz, Gok & Alkan,2019), an industrial sector including departments of engineering in China (Cao,Chen & Song,2013), the logistic industry in Sri Lanka( Mendis,2017), but in recent times, there have been limited studies between these variables in the field of higher education in Pakistan as Nawaz et al. (2019) had recommended that when the university teachers had been given rewards in the form of salary, which has been considered as HRM practice in the private universities of Punjab, Pakistan, the faculty’s turnover intentions have decreased to a larger extent. Furthermore, Hoy, Jun, Yuen, Chin & Hoon (2017) also recommended that rewards with turnover intentions should be further investigated in different cultural settings in the higher education context as their study was in the Malaysian context in the private universities among the teachers. In the context of Pakistan, Khalid and Aftab (2017) had recommended that rewards which include both financial, as well as non-financial rewards, should be investigated with turnover intentions of university faculty in Islamabad by taking a larger sample size of teachers. Supervisor support with affective commitment among the faculty in higher education (Kang, Gatling and Kim, 2015) and Nazir & Islam,2017).
Theoretical Significance
This study will positively contribute to the vast body of knowledge, particularly in the field of talent management in which the main problem faced by organizations in recent times has been voluntary turnover. As in the higher education context, the problem of turnover among the university faculty in Pakistan has become a headache, as mentioned by Nawaz et al., (2019). Through this, our study will contribute to the higher education in the Pakistani Context, particularly in Islamabad as it is important for the universities to retain the competent faculty (Akhtar, Aamir, Khurshid, Abro & Hussain, 2015). This study will contribute to the theories of social exchange and also self-determination theory as these theories focus on how the productivity of employees can be improved when they are provided with a positive work environment.
Industrial Significance
From industrial perspective, this study will positively contribute to the higher education sector in Pakistani and in the Asian context as Khalid and Aftab (2017), Li (2018) and Nazir and Islam (2017) had mentioned that when the faculty develops their affective commitment towards their university, their job performance increases and their intentions towards turnover will decrease too as well. Furthermore, this study will contribute to the higher education sector in terms of organizational commitment as Yahaya, Chek, Samsudin and Jizat (2014) had emphasized clearly that in the field of higher education, there need to be further studied in both public sector and private sector universities not only in Malaysia but also in other countries. As Pakistan is a developing country, this study will help in providing the university management and administration working in these universities in Islamabad to spread the awareness regarding faculty retention especially the lecturer’s retention as when rewards, the support from supervisors and opportunities for growth are given to university faculty, the problem of turnover can be reduced in an effective way.
Research Objectives
This study has numerous research objectives in which the focus is to examine the influence rewards has on the turnover intentions among university lecturers that are working in universities of Islamabad. Furthermore, the objective is to determine the effect supervisor support has on the turnover intentions among university lecturers. Also, the objective is to analyze whether affective commitment mediates the relationship of rewards on turnover intentions among university lecturers and analyze whether affective commitment mediates the relationship of supervisor support on turnover intentions among university lecturers.
Rewards
When discussing the term “reward”, Henderson (2003) described it that rewards are given for the acknowledgement for a service provided to customers or for facing hardships in the organization and in many organizations, rewards are used to appreciate the job performance of employees. Koo, Yu, Chua, Lee & Han (2019) highlighted that rewards are given to not only motivate the employees so that they work hard for the organization but also, rewards helps in the job retention of employees as well. Furthermore, Bustamam, Teng and Abdullah (2014) classified the rewards into two main categories that are financial rewards and non-financial rewards. Akgunduz et al. (2019) highlighted that when the employees receive financial rewards, they instantly perceive the meaning of their work in a job, and the same goes for non-financial rewards as well. Regarding non-financial rewards, Akgunduz et al. (2019) highlighted that these rewards are intangible and do not benefit the employees in a financial way, but Naon (2010) argued that non-financial rewards actually develop a sense of responsibility among the employees towards an organization.
Supervisor Support
Rathi and Lee (2017) had highlighted the importance of supervisor in a modern-day competitive business environment that supervisors now play an important role in making sure that they not only lead the organization towards success but also that for the organization to move in the right direction, the supervisors have to engage the employees. To define supervisor support or as Eisenberger et al. (2002) mentioned it as perceived supervisor support and these authors defined these phenomena as the state in which an employee develops an opinion regarding his/her supervisor and develops certain perceptions regarding the fact that whether the efforts and contributions of an employee and his/her well-being have been valued and taken care of by their supervisors or not. The importance of supervisor support has been highlighted by various researchers in their studies. Arici (2018) had mentioned that those supervisors who are supportive of their subordinates, the performance of not only the subordinates improve but also the organizational performance improves as well. Karatepe and Kaviti (2016) emphasized that when supervisors informed the employees the decisions related to the job and communicating vital information related to company matters, the employees perceived that their supervisors are not only supportive but also are giving them vital feedback, the importance of supervisor support has been highlighted by various researchers in their studies. Fazio, Gong, Sims and Yurova (2017) further discussed regarding supervisor support that in the workplace, when there comes an acknowledgement from an employee comes that his/her supervisor appreciate the efforts done by an employee, then this supervisor support or PSS is truly shown or perceived by the employee. In the context of higher education, only Li (2018) had found out a positive relationship of supervisor support with affective commitment among university faculty, working in five universities in China, as when teachers expected and perceived stronger support from their supervisors in the university, they would work harder that would increase their affective commitment for their universities.
Turnover Intentions
Agarwal and Gupta (2018) had highlighted that in today’s environment, many organizations are investing in the development of an effective workforce that can be led by managers. The problem of turnover has gained vast attention as Ghosh et al. (2019) highlighted that turnover actually affects the organizations negatively in the long run as the organizations then invest so much on the recruitment of new candidates and selection of the potential candidates and also more training is required too. To further explain this problem in the research context, the reason employees and even managers quit their jobs is because they develop turnover intentions which were first defined by both Tett and Meyer (1993) as they highlighted turnover intentions as some phenomena in which employees develop his/her willingness to quit the organization. According to Li and Jones (2013), voluntary turnover is the turnover in which there is not only loss of employee’s and organization’s performance but also the morale of the staff gets down, and the organizational costs get higher. Wong and Wong (2017) highlighted that normally voluntary turnover occurs due to employees while the second form, involuntary turnover occurs when the organization starts it from their end.
Affective Commitment
Wong and Wong (2017) had also emphasized about affective commitment and mentioned it had been considered as a vital component in determining the dedication an employee has for his/her organization. The major work on affective commitment had been done by Meyer and Allen (1991) as they were the first ones to conceptualize the commitment construct in three different kinds that were affective, continuance and normative commitment. For affective commitment, the first two researchers who defined this type of commitment were Meyer and Allen (1991), and they described it as a form of commitment in which an emotional attachment is developed by an employee with an organization. By “emotional attachment”, it means that when an employee gets involved or develops identification with their organization, it creates a strong bond between an employee and organization. Furthermore, Fazio et al. (2017) had emphasized the fact that when the affective commitment of an employee gets low, not only the performance of an employee reduces but also there are fewer chances he/she may not perceive or attain social support from his/her supervisor in the form of supervisor support This study is rested on the foundation of two most important and well-known theories in which the first is based on social interaction or exchange by Blau(1964) and second theory is self-determination related theory by Ryan and Deci(2000). Regarding self-determination theoretical aspects, Manganelli et al., (2018) highlighted that to keep the employees motivated, and the supervisors have a major responsibility to provide ample opportunities in terms of encouraging them in decision making (which comes under the autonomy part of the theory) and giving them regular feedback regarding their work and proper coaching and training (which comes under the competence part of the theory). When these needs of autonomy and competence are met, it results in their effective performance for the organization.
H1: Rewards has a negative relationship with turnover intentions.
H2: Supervisor support has a negative relationship with turnover intentions.
H3: Affective Commitment has a mediating effect on the relationship of rewards with turnover intentions.
H4: Affective Commitment has a mediating effect on the relationship of supervisor support with turnover intentions.
The methodology of this study has been based on Saunders (2009) research onion.
Research Philosophy
In this study, our research philosophy was positivism as in this philosophy, Saunders (2009) had mentioned that researchers try to observe the reality in which social interactions are occurring, and the researchers have to develop generalizations of the reality through the adoption of scientific methods and processes in which data can be collected in a systematic way through the use of proper methodology and then after analyzing the data, the researchers should be able to explain the findings in a way that it can be justified and generalized. Also, through causal explanation of the findings with numbers can help in determining the cause and effect of objects and variables in terms of the research process. Thus, this study has gone for the positivism philosophy in which we have followed these steps.
Research Approach
The approach that has been adopted was the deductive approach because through deductive approach, firstly the phenomena are observed carefully under the theoretical lens, and then a process of a critical literature review is done by going through different research papers and then developing the hypothesis with the theoretical foundation on which the hypothesis is supported. Also, in deductive approach, the quantitative level of research is done in which data is collected and analyzed through various statistical tests, and then we find the results on which the generalizations can be made. Thus, this study has gone for the deductive approach.
Research Strategy
The strategy has been based on grounded theories that were social exchange and self-determination theory through which the theoretical foundations of this study were laid down.
Also, the nature of this study was causal as we need to investigate the cause-and-effect relationship of whether giving rewards and supervisor support to lecturers reduces their turnover intentions or not. By quantitative research design, we collected data through questionnaires, primarily close-ended questionnaires.
Time Horizon
This study was conducted from September 2019 to December 2019, which means four months. So, the study is cross-sectional in nature. Also, the nature of this study was causal as we need to investigate the cause-and-effect relationship of whether giving rewards and supervisor support to lecturers reduces their turnover intentions or not.
Close-ended questionnaires had been used and distributed to the five public and private universities in Islamabad.
The population includes university lecturers in various universities of Islamabad, Pakistan. For finding the population of university lecturers, we took the information (2019 statistics) regarding the total number of university lecturers from the HEC website. The five universities in Islamabad that come under both public and private sector include
| | | |
| 1. | National University of Science & Technology, Islamabad | 318 |
| 2. | COMSATS Institute of Information Technology, Islamabad | 219 |
| 3. | FAST, Islamabad | 128 |
| 4. | International Islamic University, Islamabad | 218 |
| 5. | Bahria University Islamabad | 182 |
| Total Population | 1065 |
For further clarification regarding the population figures of university lecturers teaching in these universities, we personally visited these universities and contacted the HR and Administration offices to give us the estimate figures of the university lecturers teaching in these universities.
For
our study, the sample size has been chosen by referring to the developed table
of
Simple random sampling was used as Uma Sekeran (2003) had highlighted that in simple random sampling, each element has an equal chance of selection. In this technique, every member of the population has an equal chance of being selected as a random sample in the data collection process. For justifying this sampling technique, Haq, Ali, Anwar, Iqbal, Suleman, Sadiq and Mahasbi (2019) investigated the role of perceived organizational politics on turnover intentions in different universities in Islamabad and for that, they used simple random sampling technique for data collection by distributing questionnaires randomly.
This
study has used the questionnaire for collecting data from lecturers. The Likert
scale has been used to measure the variable, and the range starts from
“Strongly Disagree” and ending with “Strongly Agree”. Measures of variables
have been adopted. For the measurement of rewards that includes financial and
non-financial rewards, the scale has been adopted and developed by
| | | | | |
| RWDS | 1 | |||
| SS | .623** | 1 | ||
| AC | .740** | .519** | 1 | |
| TOI | -.677** | -.521** | -.735** | 1 |
| | | | |
| RWDS | -0.792 | -0.677 | 0.000 |
Relationship of rewards with turnover intentions has been found negative, significant at 0.000.
| | | | |
| SS | -0.672 | -0.521 | 0.000 |
The relationship between supervisor support and turnover intentions has also been found negative, significant at 0.000. So, the value of beta (standardized coefficients) is negative for both the variables.
For
mediation, SPSS Process Macro by
| | | | | | | |
| Constant | 2.8301 | .1807 | 15.6595 | 0.0000 | 2.4744 | 3.1859 |
| RWDS | -.4170 | .0630 | -6.6239 | 0.0000 | -.4409 | -.2931 |
| AC | -.3790 | .0659 | -5.4120 | 0.0000 | -.5311 | -.3891 |
| | | | | | |
| .4170 | .0630 | -6.6239 | 0.0000 | -.4409 | -.2931 |
| | | | | |
| AC | .3454 | .0239 | .2049 | .3987 |
With the table for the outcome variable, affective commitment, the “a” path from rewards to affective commitment was checked. It is significant with the following values
LLCI: -0.6612
ULCI: -0.4877
The “b” path from affective commitment to turnover intentions in table for outcome variable of turnover intentions was checked. It is significant with the following values
LLCI: -0.4409
ULCI: -0.2931
The c’ path, the direct path from rewards to turnover intentions in table for outcome variable of turnover intentions was checked. It is significant with the following values
LLCI: -0.5311
ULCI: -0.3891
Furthermore, direct influence or effect of rewards(X) with on turnover intentions(Y) is also given in table in which value of LLCI is -0.4409 is value of ULCI is -0.2931 and the relationship is significant. Also, there was found an indirect and also a significant relationship of rewards with turnover intentions with the affective commitment contributing only an effect of 0.3454, meaning 35% effect of the affective commitment was found between the rewards and turnover intentions.
For mediation between supervisor support and turnover intentions, below are the tables.
| | | | | | | |
| Constant SS AC | 3.3592 -.4951 -.3891 | .1813 .0485 .0486 | 18.5279 -10.2178 -2.0174 | 0.0000 0.0000 0.0000 | 3.0023 -.5905 -.4024 | 4.7161 -.3997 .2939 |
| | | | | | |
| .4951 | .0485 | -10.2168 | 0.0000 | -.5905 | -.3997 |
| | | | | |
| AC | .4110 | .0193 | .3063 | .4813 |
LLCI: -0.5115
ULCI: -0.3232
The “b” path from affective commitment to turnover intentions in table for outcome variable of
turnover intentions were checked. It is significant with following values
LLCI: -0.5905
ULCI: -0.3997
The c’ path, the direct path from supervisor support to turnover intentions in table for outcome variable of turnover intentions was checked. It is significant with following values
LLCI: - 0.4024
ULCI: - 0.2939
Furthermore, direct influence or effect of supervisor support (X) with turnover intentions(Y) also given in table in which value of LLCI is -0.5905 is value of ULCI is -0.3997 and the relationship is significant. Also, there was found an indirect and also a significant relationship supervisor support has with the turnover intentions with the affective commitment contributing only an effect of 0.4110, meaning 41% effect of the affective commitment was found between the rewards and turnover intentions.
For the first hypothesis, the results have proved that rewards (both the financial and non-financial rewards) has a negatively significant relationship with the turnover intentions of lecturers. Akgunduz, Gok and Alkan(2019) also found out that total rewards which included both financial and non-financial rewards had a negative relationship with turnover intentions and was significant as well among the employees working in hotel. These findings from the previous and recent studies tell us that when rewards are not given in an adequate manner to any employee or any faculty member, they would develop their intentions to quit their respective organization. Thus, it concludes that first hypothesis has been accepted.
H1: Rewards has negative relationship with turnover intentions.
For the second hypothesis, the results have proved that supervisor support has a negatively significant relationship with the turnover intentions of lecturers. Afzal et al., (2019) also had found negative relationship but it was insignificant due to mediating effect of self-efficacy. These findings from the previous and recent studies indicate that when any employee or any university faculty member receives inadequate supervisor support from their supervisors, they would develop the intentions to quit the job. Thus, it concludes that second hypothesis has been accepted.
H2: Supervisor support has negative relationship with turnover intentions.
For the third hypothesis, the results have proved that affective commitment has partially mediated the relationship of rewards with the turnover intentions of lecturers with indirect effect being significant. As in the recent study by Haque, Fernando and Caputi(2018), affective commitment played a critical role in decreasing of turnover intentions among the employees. Thus, it concludes that third hypothesis has been accepted.
H3: Affective Commitment has a mediating effect on relationship of rewards with turnover intentions.
For the fourth hypothesis, the results have proved that affective commitment has partially mediated the relationship of supervisor support with the turnover intentions of lecturers with indirect effect being significant. In the education sector in UAE, Alkhateri et al., (2018) also found out that when the school teachers are given supervisor support from the management, their emotional attachment with the school develops strongly, thus reducing turnover intentions. Thus, it concludes that fourth hypothesis has been accepted.
H4: Affective Commitment has mediating effect on relationship of supervisor support with turnover intentions.
This study highlighted the empirical evidence found after the data collection and analysis that rewards and supervisor support are the two main factors that can overall decrease the turnover intentions of university lecturers and these two factors helps the university administration in the retention of quality and competent lecturers. Furthermore, the study also concluded that when the lecturers feel that they are receiving enough rewards and having supervisor support from their immediate supervisors, their level of affective commitment will also increase.
Practical Implications
This study gives guidelines to the university management of public as well as to private universities of Islamabad to tackle the major problem of turnover. University administration should make ensure that in the public and private universities of Islamabad, there should be develop a cooperative culture where the HOD’s belonging to different departments should provide immediate and due support to the lecturers who have just joined the university or are in the middle stage of their career.
Limitations
This study focused on few limitations. Firstly, the study conducted has been cross-sectional in nature as the study has been conducted at single point of time. Also, this study has primarily focused on the higher education sector. In future research, this study has multiple avenues in banking, telecom, health care and in hospitality sector too. Furthermore, future studies can be conducted in different cities other than Islamabad like the twin city Rawalpindi, Lahore and in other areas in the public and private universities with greater sample size.
As the study has taken rewards (both financial and non-financial rewards) to check its impact with turnover intentions, the future studies should be able to examine and identify what kind of rewards in particular like salary package, bonuses, increments actually determines the effect on their turnover intentions. And individual impact of financial and non-financial rewards should be investigated with the dependent variable in order to know whether turnover intentions reduce either by providing financial or non-financial rewards. Furthermore, the future research can be conducted by checking the relationship between either social support or technical support with turnover intentions as Afzal et al., (2019) had emphasized on their study that in higher education context, the role of social support or technical support can be investigated. Longitudinal studies should be conducted as in the literature related to turnover intentions many researchers had recommended the use of longitudinal study and also by adopting interview method for data collection, an idea of how the turnover problem affect the employees or lecturers can be applied. In future, other university faculty ranks including assistant professors, associate professors and among professors, this problem of turnover can be examined to obtain a different perspective and in different sectors like banking, telecom and in hospitality sector, there are avenues for the future researchers.
The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.
This study did not require formal ethics approval.
Data sharing is not applicable to this article.