Meeting Diverse Workforce Expectations on Career Development and its effect on Employees’ Commitment in Public Universities in Kenya

Career development initiatives benefit both employees and the organization they work in. Employees benefit from improved, more marketable skills that allow for increased mobility within the organization while the organisations benefit from increased employee talent, performance and commitment and reduce employee intention to leave for alternative employers. The study aimed to determine the effect of meeting diverse workforce expectations on employee commitment in public universities in Kenya. Perceived organization support was considered a moderating variable in the study. Employees’ commitment to the organization was the dependent variable. The study focused on the effect of career management on employees’ commitment in public universities in Kenya for both academic and non-academic. This was a field study that adopted a cross sectional descriptive research. The data analysis was both descriptive and inferential. To obtain a comprehensive view of the career development expectations of the diverse workforce situation in public universities, qualitative research methods was applied in the study. The target population was the University of Nairobi (UoN), Kenyatta University (KU) and Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT). The three institutions were a good representation since they have more established systems unlike other upcoming universities. Questionnaires and interviewer-administered questionnaire were used as instruments for obtaining the information required. Pilot test was conducted to detect any weakness in design and instrumentation, and Cronbach’s Alpha and T-test was used to ascertain internal reliability of each variable used in the study. The results combined provided a better insight into the effect meeting diverse workforce career development expectations on employees’ commitment in public universities in Kenya.