Effect of Conflict and Grievance Management On Employee Retention Among Medical Practitioners in County Governments in Kenya: A Case Study of Kirinyaga County

Abstract

Health care practitioners in public health facilities in Kenya have been reported to leave for greener pastures in private hospitals locally and abroad. Employee retention is therefore a great concern. This study was aimed at determining the effects of conflict and grievance management on employee retention among medical practitioners in Kirinyaga County. The study was anchored on Organizational Conflict Theory. The study employed descriptive research design. Krejcie and Morgan tables and stratified random sampling were utilized to come up with a sample size of 272 respondents from a population of 930 medical practitioners. Primary data was collected through questionnaires from selected respondents while secondary data was sourced from Kirinyaga County website and database. Multiple regression using SPSS (version 24) was used to determine the effect of conflict and grievance management on employee retention. There was a moderate positive relationship (r=0.656) between conflict and grievance management and employee retention. Results further showed that 43.1% of the variation in employee retention was explained by conflict and grievance management (R2= 0.431). It was therefore concluded that there was a significant positive relationship between conflict and grievance management and employee retention. It is recommended that effective grievance handling procedures should be put in place in a bid to increase employee retention in public health facilities in the County.