Emotional Intelligence and Turnover Intentions among Teaching Staff in Kenya's Private Universities

Abstract

The objective of this study was to establish the relationship between emotional intelligence and turnover intentions among the teaching staff in Kenya's Private Universities. The study was anchored on the mixed theory of emotional intelligence. It focused on all 36 private universities in Kenya as listed by the Commission for university education as at June 2021. The research was guided by positivism philosophy and used cross-sectional survey design. A sample size of 364 teaching staff from Kenyan Private Universities was obtained through stratified proportionate random sampling. The researcher used a structured questionnaire to collect primary data for the study from 364 respondents. Quantitative data analysis was conducted using statistical package for the social sciences (SPSS) software and involved diagnostic tests, descriptive and inferential statistical analysis. The results revealed a weak positive and significant relationship between emotional intelligence and turnover intentions. The research recommends the leadership of private universities in Kenya to assess a candidate's emotional intelligence ability to build strong relationships among employees when employing the teaching staff. The study further recommends that employees in these institutions be trained on emotional intelligence aspects of Self-awareness, Self-regulation, Social-awareness and social management or social skills at institutional and personal level. This training should include all leaders at various levels such as vice chancellors, deputy vice chancellors' deans and non-academic leaders.