Factors influencing turnover of nurses in Kiambu District Hospital in Kiambu County, Kenya

Abstract

The business world today is very competitive and only firms with the appropriate human resource can keep up with the competition. For this matter, managing employee for any organization is crucial. High staff turnover has been a persistent issue for both international and local organizations because of the difficulties in motivating their employees. This study sought to investigate the factors influencing turnover of nurses in Kiambu District Hospital in Kiambu County in Kenya. The general objective was to establish factors influencing turnover of nurses in Kiambu District Hospital in Kiambu County, Kenya. Specifically, the study sought to establish the effect of organizational culture, working environment, reward systems, training, and development on turnover of nurses in Kiambu District Hospital. The study used a descriptive research design. The target population of this study consisted of 200 nurses working at Kiambu District Hospital where the study sample size was 63 nurses, using stratified random sampling procedure to select the study sample. Collection of data was through a self–administered questionnaire. The researcher carried out a pilot study among 12 nurses (20% of the sample) from the Ruiru Sub-County Hospital. The lecturers in the Department of Business Administration to establish its content and construct validity reviewed the questionnaire. Cronbach’s Alpha Coefficient was the instrument used to estimate the reliability using the pilot study data. In analysing the quantitative data, the study used descriptive statistics while qualitative data was analysed using content analysis. The ethical considerations that the study observed included; anonymity, confidentiality, respect of respondents’ rights and privacy. From the findings, the four independent variables including; organizational culture, work environment, reward systems, training, and development were significant factors influencing turnover of nurses in Kiambu District Hospital. They influenced employee turnover by 79.82%. The magnitude with which each of the four factors impacted employee turnover with included the following; organizational culture (-0.598), work environment (-0.644), reward systems (-0.714), training, and development (-0.563). The majority (80%) of the nurses noted that current organizational culture at Kiambu District hospital contributed to the high turnover of nurses. The working environment further contributed to turnover of nurses in Kiambu District Hospital as noted by 84.3%. The reward system applied was a contributor to turnover of nurses in Kiambu District Hospital as noted by 80%. The training and development affected turnover of nurses in Kiambu District Hospital as confirmed by 68% of the nurses. The study concludes that reward system contributes most to the nurses’ turnover in Kiambu District hospital followed by work environment, organizational culture and training and development respectively. The study recommends that the hospital management should make and implement comprehensive the organizational policies to improve the organization culture. The hospital management should invest in improving the work environment at the hospital. Kiambu District hospital needs to offer financial incentives to the nurses given that the government determined their salaries. The management should invest in regular training and development opportunities and career paths for all nurses.