Influence of Employee Assistance Programs on Commitment of Nurses in Public Hospitals in Kenya

Abstract

The aim of this study was to investigate the influence of employee assistance programs on commitment of nurses in public hospitals in Kenya. Specifically, the study was guided by the hypothesis; Employee assistance program has no significant influence on commitment of nurses in public hospitals in Kenya. The researcher utilized proportionate simple random sampling to select 364 nurses. A cross sectional research design was used. Semi-structured questionnaires were used to collect data. Data were analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics. The findings suggest that there is a weak positive correlation between employee assistance programs and level of commitment of the nurses as indicated by a Pearson’s correlation coefficient of 0.394 significant at 5% level of significance. Secondly, the regression model on the influence of employee assistance programs on commitment of nurses; commitment=26.304+0.620(adequacy of Employee Assistance Programs), indicating that there is a positive linear relationship between employee assistance and commitment. Fourthly, t-test values and f- test values (t= 7.516, p < 0.05); f = 54.495, p < 0.05) indicated that employee assistance programs had a statistically significant effect on the level of commitment of the nurses. In addition, coefficient of determination R2 = 0.155, indicating that 15.5% of the variation in the level of commitment for the sample of 309 nurses in public hospitals can be explained by the variations in the adequacy of employee assistance programs. Based on these findings, the researcher concludes that adequacy of employee assistance programs significantly influences levels of commitment of nurses in public hospitals in Kenya. Given that employee assistance programs in public hospitals is inadequate the study recommends that public hospital management team should enhance employee assistance programs in terms of adequacy in order to improve on the levels of commitment of nurses. The researcher Suggests a further research on the influence of employee assistance programs on commitment of nurses’ in faith-based health and private hospitals in Kenya.