The Romantic Fit between Organisational Support and Teachers’ Job Commitment in Private Secondary Schools in Uganda.

Abstract

Guided by the Person-Environment-Fit perspective of Vancouver and Schmitt (1991) that explicates individual and external factors, this study investigated the contribution of organisational support to job commitment of teachers in Private secondary schools in Kampala capital city authority (KCCA), Uganda. Census sampling design was used to select teachers from each of the 15 secodnary schools. This action ensured equitable representation of teachers and schools. By means of a correlational survey design, data was collected using self-administered-questionnaires from 240 teachers. It was analyzed by means of descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation test and regression analytical tests. Results indicated that teacher job commitment was significantly related to organisational support (r=.54**, p<.01). However, affective commitment (r=.45**, p<.01) and normative commitment (r=.61**, p<.01) had higher correlation coefficients. Organisational support enhanced (β =0.542, p < 0.05) teacher job commitment. So in line with person-environment fit theory, for private secondary schools to enhance job commitment of their teachers, they need to provide sound care, mentorship and professional guidance that enable teachers to reciprocally adhere to their jobs and be motivated to commit effort on assessing and understanding the needs of learners. Hence, private secondary schools should have effective mechanisms to solidify affective and normative commitment, as well as improve continuance commitment, personal attributes that are relevant to teachers’ job performance. A model of teacher job commitment development appropriate for working conditions of private secondary schools in Uganda should be researched.