Abstract
A merger can be considered both a phenomenological and significant life event
for an organisation and its employees, and how people cope with and respond to
a merger has a direct impact on the institutional performance in the short to
medium term. It is within this context that post-merger perceptions of a tertiary
institution were gauged.
Restructuring in any organisation is characterised by uncertainty, high levels of
anxiety, low levels of morale, and tardy job performance, as well as high levels of
absenteeism and staff turnover, all of which potentially impact on productivity and
performance. Notably, the global phenomenon of transformation of higher
education, taking place in most countries in the world, is an undeniable fact.
The abolition of apartheid and the post-1994 aftermath period have seen South
Africa undergoing tremendous transformation in its political, economic, social and
technological environments. As part of the social environment, education, too,
will be subjected to the restructuring and transition resulting in the new
characterisation of the country and its people. Mergers are taking place between
teacher-training colleges and technical colleges, as well as between universities
and technikons. In South Africa to date, mergers have been limited mainly to the
federal absorption of smaller, specialist institutions into universities; however
larger and more unitary mergers have been advocated.
Few notable studies have investigated the commitment perceptions of the
employees (and the associated selected work constructs of job satisfaction and
turnover intentions) who feel the full impact of these restructurings in a South
African context. This subsequently results in a dearth of knowledge on the
context of South African mergers and acquisitions of tertiary institutions. Human
capital element in the form of teacher / facilitator / lecturer in educational
institutions (knowledge intensive organisations) is much more important than in
other organisations. In light of the recent restructuring of the institution in
question, no attempt has yet been made to gauge the levels of organisational
commitment amongst its employees. It is within this context that the research
problem emerges: What are the employee perceptions of job satisfaction,
organisational commitment, and turnover intentions in a post-merger tertiary
institution, and how are these variables related?
Job satisfaction was determined as a pleasurable or positive emotional state
resulting from the appraisal of ones job or job experiences. A global approach
was adopted, whereby job satisfaction is explained as a single, overall feeling
toward ones job.
Organisational commitment was defined as a cognitive predisposition towards a
particular focus, insofar as this focus has the potential to satisfy needs, realise
values, and achieve goals, and was subsequently addressed through a
motivational approach. The state of commitment is not only separated from its
antecedent and consequential conditions and behaviours, but also from its
related affective and conative components that are also present in other widely
used constructs, such as job satisfaction and turnover intentions respectively.
Turnover intentions, approached as being mental decisions intervening between
an individuals attitudes regarding a job and the stay or leave decision, were
addressed as a planned behaviour. This is a result from the argument that
behavioural intention is a good predictor of actual behaviour, in this case actual
turnover. Turnover behaviour is a multistage process that includes attitudinal,
decisional, and behavioural components. Furthermore the turnover process is
initially stimulated by the thought of quitting, which ultimately will result in the
actual process of either staying or leaving.
The instance of a merger or acquisition normally results in, amongst others, lack
of commitment, job dissatisfaction, increased labour turnover and absenteeism
rates (even at managerial level), lowered work goals, uncertainty, and employee
theft or acts of sabotage. The relationships established between the three
selected work constructs, primarily in terms of mergers and acquisitions, suggest
that a positive relationship exists between job satisfaction and organisational
commitment, whilst also yielding a negative relationship with turnover intentions.
The research approach could be described as a non-experimental and crosssectional
field survey, the data as primary data, and data analysis as ex post
facto and correlational. The non-probability (convenience) sample consisted of
367 employees of a South African tertiary instituition. The completion of the
electronic questionnaires was personally administered and anonymously
handled.
Job satisfaction was assessed by the Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaire
(MSQ20). The MSQ20 measures 20 different job-related items and can be subcategorised
into extrinsic and intrinsic satisfaction. The end factor analystic result
revealed the need to remove three items. Commitment was addressed through
the Organisational Commitment Questionnaire which consisted of 18 items,
measuring different foci of commitment, namely work, career, occupational and
organisational. Diagnostic analyses indicated the need to remove three items.
Turnover intentions were measured by an unpublished 15 item questionnaire.
The diagnostic analyses warranted the removel of two items.
The analyses followed a two phase procedure. The intial phase included all
diagnostic testing of the measuring instruments in order to determine the
reliabilty and validty of the measuring instruments for subsequent testing
purposes of the study. The tests utilised were basic descriptives, factor (first and
second order) and reliability analyses and normality testing. The latter phase
described the inferential section of the sample, whereby statistics are used either
to infer the truth or falsify hypotheses / research objectives. The tests carried out
consisted of t-tests and ANOVA, correlations, structural equation modelling, twoway
ANOVA and lastly a stepwise linear regression. Fifteen predefined models
were investigated whereupon the most parsimonious model was selected.
In applying the stepwise linear regression for the prediction of turnover intentions,
the model was determined by entering all the variables simultaneously into the
regression equation. The variables determined for the inclusion on the regression
were based on the results from the inferenital testing phase. The final result
yielded a prediction of 47% of the variance in turnover intentions. The final (most
parsimonious) model determined for turnover intentions indicated as being
significantly predicted by: job satisfaction, tenure, and a combination of job
satisfaction and organisational commitment. Contrary to popular belief,
commitment does not correlate more strongly than satisfaction does with
turnover intentions. This indicates that withdrawal entails a rejection of the job
rather than of the organisation.
Turnover intentions of tertiary employees can be actively managed through the
manipulation of the contextual variables of organisational commitment and job
satisfaction. The resulting predictive model can be regarded as an important tool
for management and the Human Resource Department in effectively planning
talent retention strategies focusing on its controllable dimensions. Since this
model was developed based on internal components, possible strategies can be
derived from this model to prevent turnover intentions.
Professor Gert Roodt