Effects of psychosocial and work condition on job satisfaction of public secondary school female principals in Siaya county, Kenya

Abstract

The 2010 Constitution enhanced affirmative action to boost women’s participation in educational leadership in Kenya. However, in Siaya county female principals face problems in their leadership roles and work conditions that put a lot of demand and stress in their work. In the period between the year 2015 and 2020, 78(42.9%) of female principals presented transfer requests, 52(28.6%) resigned and 36(19.8%) were redeployed presenting a glaring shortage of professional female administrators compared to other neighboring counties. Sources from Education County offices in Rachunyo North and Homa Bay indicate that female principals left headship due to stress 11(24.4%) and 15 (28.3%), while 9(17%) left headship due to other factors as joining spouses. Busia and Kakamega counties had 14(28.6%) and 12(24.5%), while Vihiga had 4(15%) and Kisumu 16(20%) of transfer requests, resignation and redeployment presenting a minimal number. The purpose of the study was to determine the effects of psychosocial and work conditions on job satisfaction of public secondary school female principals in Siaya County. The objectives of the study were to; determine effects of physical facilities on psychosocial and work condition on job satisfaction; examine effects of physical environment on psychosocial and work condition on job satisfaction; analyze effects of stress on psychosocial and work condition on job satisfaction and; determine effects of family roles on psychosocial and work condition on job satisfaction. A conceptual framework was used to identify the effects of psychosocial and work condition variables on job satisfaction based on Herzberg’s Two Factor theory. Descriptive and correlation research design was used for the study on a population of 55 female principals, 50 of which formed a saturated sample. Questionnaires and interviews were instruments for data collection. Face and content validity of instrument was determined by two experts in the Department of Educational Management and Foundations, Maseno University. Their suggestions were used to revise the questionnaires and interview schedules by removing ambiguities, inconsistencies and weaknesses noted to make them more comprehensive in content. A pilot study was conducted in 5 schools to establish reliability of the instruments through a test-re-test method. A Pearson- r value of .79 was achieved at .002 implying that the instrument was reliable. Quantitative data from questionnaires were analyzed using descriptive statistics such as frequencies, means and percentages and presented using tables. Qualitative data from open-ended sections of questionnaires and interviews was analyzed by organizing the content into themes and sub-themes as they emerged, then tallied and presented in verbatim form. Ethical approval letter was obtained from the Ethics Review Committee, Maseno University, which enabled the researcher to obtain a research permit from the National Commission for Science Technology and Innovation. The findings revealed that physical facilities had positive psychosocial effect on job satisfaction (β=.508, p=.001) and accounted for a variance of 25.8%. Physical environment had positive psychosocial effect on job satisfaction (β=.440, p=.002) and accounted for a variance of 19.4%. Stress factors had a negative significant effect on job satisfaction (β=-.469, p=.001) accounting 46.9% variance on job satisfaction. Family roles had inverse psychosocial effect on job satisfaction (β=-.528, p=.001) and accounted for 27.9%. The study concluded that physical facilities, physical environment and family roles had a positive psychosocial effect on female principal’s job satisfaction. The study recommended that physical facilities and physical environment be well maintained and improved to avoid psychosocial effects of stress through counselling and training in order to learn to balance between family roles and work. The study findings may help the Ministry of Education and Teachers’ Service Commission to come up with work-life policies that would reduce psychosocial related problems and promote job satisfaction for improved work conditions of female principals in school management.