Antecedents of commitment of academic staff in universities in Uganda: A conceptual paper

Abstract

The importance of employee commitment (EC) in so far as enhancing employee job performance is concerned is widely recognised in scholarly literature. Committed employees may be more likely to engage in extra-role behaviours such as creativity, have less intentions of leaving the organisation, accept and enhance organisational change and involve in knowledge sharing. Despite the apparent importance of EC, evidence shows that there is low EC among academic staff of universities of Uganda. Academic staff engage in frequent strikes, threats of strikes, absenteeism, delayed handing in of marks, part-time activities and show declining motivation and commitment to excellence. This means that if the problem of lack of EC among academic staff persists, there will be complete decline in the academic standards of universities. This paper proposes a study to isolate significant antecedents that can enhance EC of academic staff in universities of Uganda. The antecedents to be appraised are in three categories, namely, human resource management (HRM) practices, organisational characteristics and personal characteristics. This paper that is derived from a PhD proposal, highlights the introduction, theories, the problem, objectives, significance, framework, related literature and the corresponding hypotheses to be tested. It also proposes the methodology to be used in the study. The PhD monograph and future articles to be generated from the proposed study will give the findings, conclusions and recommendations.