Academic Staff Turnover Intention in Madda Walabu University, Bale Zone, South-east Ethiopia

Introduction- Employee retention is one of the challenges facing several organizations in both the developed and developing countries of the world. Higher education institutions serve as storehouses of knowledge for nurturing the manpower needs of the nation. Higher education institutions are therefore more dependent on the intellectual and creative abilities and commitment of the academic staff than most other organizations. This therefore makes it critically important to retain this cadre of staff. This research was carried out to determine the prevalence of academic staff turnover intention and the factors contributing for it among Madda Walabu University academic staff.Methods- An institution based cross sectional study design was employed. Two hundred and seventeen academic staff were selected randomly and interviewed using a structured self-administered questionnaire. An in-depth interview was carried out on six academic staff. Binary and multiple logistic regression analysis was used using SPSS version 16. To have a more accurate result, triangulation of quantitative findings and an in-depth interview was used. Results- A total of 217 academicians responded to the questionnaire. One hundred sixty four, (75.6%) respondents intended to leave Madda Walabu University and 24.4% of academic staff intended to retain their position or post. A bad work environment (lack of facilities like offices, chairs, internet and toilets) was the most frequently cited reason for leaving (71.3%) followed by 63.4% due to poor management and leadership and 63.4% due to inadequate salary. Academic staff who had worked five or more years in Madda Walabu University were 4.5 times more likely to leave their institution [AOR = 4.5, 95% CI- 1.37, 14.9]. Conclusion- The prevalence of academic staff intending to leave was found to be very high and as a result, Madda Walabu University will be in an alarming state of staff turnover. Before this happens, there should be staff retention mechanisms in place to improve the work environment, management and leadership and remuneration methods to retain senior and skilled academicians.