Employee engagement of special needs teachers in Windhoek, Namibia: The moderating role of job crafting

Abstract

Orientation: Learners with disabilities can acquire from special education schools the basic knowledge and skills to enable participation in various economic and social activities. The engagement of special needs teachers is pivotal in this regard.Research purpose: To identify the work factors that are most salient in accounting for variance in the engagement of special needs teachers in Windhoek, Namibia. To test the effects of job crafting on the relationship between identified work factors and employee engagement.Motivation for the study: The employee engagement of special needs teachers is necessary for the enhancement of learning for persons with disabilities. If special needs teachers are not engaged, the result is a compromised delivery of quality education, which in turn adversely impacts learners with special needs.Research approach/design and method: A quantitative research approach utilising a survey data collection technique was utilised. Correlation analysis and partial least squares were used to test the main effects on data collected from 89 special needs teachers in Windhoek, Namibia.Main findings: Co-worker support significantly and positively impacts employee engagement. More so, job crafting has a significant moderating effect on the relationships between co-worker support and employee engagement, as well as work autonomy and employee engagement.Practical/managerial implications: Recommendations are made on ways in which co-worker support can be enhanced and how job crafting can be conceptualised in a special education learning environment setting.Contribution/value-add: The findings highlights co-worker support as a key variable for enhancing the employee engagement of special needs teachers.

Special education teachers’ job demands-resources profiles and capabilities: Effects on work engagement and intention to leave

“…Moreover, SETs in these JD-R profiles (compared to demanding and poor jobs) experienced lower emotional demands. Although Minghui et al (2018) , Murangi and Bailey (2022) conducted variable-oriented (rather than person-oriented) studies, their findings showed that job demands and resources (e.g., autonomy, colleague support and rewards, and recognition) were associated with work engagement.…”

“…Minghui et al (2018) showed that social support is a critical job resource for SETs. In Namibia, job resources, including autonomy, co-worker support, and rewards and recognition, showed moderate relationships with the work engagement of SETs (Murangi and Bailey, 2022). Billingsley and Bettini (2019) found that SETs' perceptions of job demands increased their intentions to leave, especially when these demands exceed their capacity to fulfill them.…”

“… Minghui et al (2018) showed that social support is a critical job resource for SETs. In Namibia, job resources, including autonomy, co-worker support, and rewards and recognition, showed moderate relationships with the work engagement of SETs ( Murangi and Bailey, 2022 ).…”

“…However, these studies focused on mainstream schools (primary and secondary). Only one study ( Murangi and Bailey, 2022 ) investigated engagement in SETs in Namibia related to job resources and job demands.…”

“…In African countries, where large inequalities exist, teachers face many challenges: a lack of teacher training, expertise and teaching materials, large class sizes, constraints on teacher time, and a lack of support (Chitiyo, 2006;Zemba and Chipindi, 2020). These contextual factors affect the work engagement (Murangi and Bailey, 2022) and retention of teachers (Billingsley, 2004;Thornton et al, 2007;Vittek, 2015). Research by Conley and You (2017) showed that one-third of novice SETs in the United States quit within the first 3 years of employment.…”