The Effects of Performance Management Practices on Academic Staff’ Job Satisfaction in some Selected Ethiopian Universities

Abstract

Universities are playing a vital role in developing human capital, economic growth and development of countries. They need to implement the PM system to align individual goals with department, college and university strategic goals to improve the overall performance of the university. The study aimed to investigate the practices of performance management dimensions and their effects on academic staff’ job satisfaction in some selected Ethiopian public and private universities. The study used a mixed research approach and descriptive and explanatory research designs were used. Data was collected via questionnaire, semi-structured interviews and documents. The questionnaire respondents were 307 academic staff from public and private universities. Qualitative data was collected from semi-structured interview and open-ended questionnaires. The interviewees were purposefully selected from research coordination and publication directors, community service directors and department heads. Quantitative data were analyzed with SPSS version 25 using descriptive statistics (frequency and percentage) and inferential statistics (independent samples t-test, ANOVA, Pearson correlation, and hierarchical multiple regression). Documents and qualitative data were examined through theme analysis. The finding of the study showed that there was a positive and significant relationship between the practices of the PM dimensions together and their effects on job satisfaction of the academic staff in the selected universities The Pearson correlation analysis finding showed that performance management dimensions had the positive correlation with academic staff job satisfaction. The finding indicated the effect of each PM dimensions on the job satisfaction of academic staff. The finding also indicated the comparison t-test and R2 value for public and private universities. The study concluded that job satisfaction of academic staff was achieved by their performance directly from the practices of the performance management dimensions. The findings indicated the contribution of each performance management dimension and their effect on job satisfaction. Managing these factors could be beneficial for university management (presidents, college directors, and department heads) and academic staff.