Mediating Role of Employee Decision on Relationship Between Employee Separation Planning and Retirement Preparedness in Kenya

Globally, majority of employees particularly from public institutions are associated with poverty during retirement despite living well during employment life. Retirement preparedness is viewed as a deliberate planning process by an individual and ought to start a long while before actual organization ¨C employee separation. It is therefore important to relook at the concept of employee separation planning and retirement preparedness when it is mediated by employee decision which is integral to the life mastery of control that an individual exhibit. The target population was 1,238 teachers aged 50 years and above and employed in public secondary schools in Kenya by 2017. A representative sample of 334 respondents was selected using multistage sampling technique. Data was collected using semi structured questionnaire and interview guide. Logit regression was used to establish the relationships between variables in the study and to test the null hypotheses at P ¡Ü 0.05 and 95% confidence level. The study found that employee decision making had partial mediating effect on the relationship between employee separation planning and retirement preparedness. The study recommended the government and the employer organizations to enact frameworks that encourages and stimulates employees to make decisions to engage in programmes geared towards separation planning for successful retirement preparedness.