Perceived organisational support, work-life balance, and employee retention : an exploratory study of academic staff members in selected higher education institution

Abstract

Given the new competitive demands created by globalisation, internationalisation and technological advances, and the need to accommodate the socio-economic, cultural, and intellectual life of a rapidly changing society, new challenges are emerging for Higher Education Institutions (HEI) in South Africa. The purpose of the study is to investigate the relationship between perceived organisational support (POS), work-life balance (WLB), and employee retention (ER) at selected HEIs. The lack of retention of academic staff in HEIs due to the challenges faced by the institutions motivated the need for the study. The study adopted a deductive approach in studying what others have done, reviewed existing theories, and tested the hypotheses of the study. The study used the quantitative research design and data were collected through the distribution of closed-ended questionnaires to 332 participants (academic staff) in the selected HEI. The data collected were captured on the Statistical Procedure for Social Science (IBM-SPSS) version 25 software and analysed using the Pearson Product Moment to determine the relationship between the variables. The study reveals that there is a relationship between POS, WLB, and ER. It recommends improving organisational support for academics as there is a relationship between POS, WLB, and ER. It further recommends the adoption of Human Resource policies such as employee’s assist programs to improve employees’ WLB.