REWARD MANAGEMENT AND EMPLOYEE RETENTION IN FAITH-BASED UNIVERSITIES IN KENYA
Pius Kithuka Muia - PhD Candidate, Department of Business Administration, School of Business and Economics, Kisii University, Kenya
Dr. Ruth Ogega (PhD) - Lecturer, Department of Business Administration, School of Business and Economics, Kisii University, Kenya
Dr. Henry Omosa (PhD) - Lecturer, Department of Business Administration, School of Business and Economics, Kisii University, Kenya
ABSTRACT
Employee retention remains a persistent challenge for higher education institutions, particularly faith-based universities in Kenya and globally, where reward management has gained increasing scholarly and managerial focus. This study examined the effect of reward management strategies on employee retention in faith-based universities in Kenya. Anchored on Social Exchange Theory, the study adopted a positivist philosophy, a realist ontology, and a quantitative cross-sectional survey design. The target population comprised 2,000 academic and non-academic employees from 22 registered faith-based universities, with a sample of 333 respondents drawn from five purposively selected institutions using stratified and simple random sampling techniques. Data were collected through structured questionnaires and analyzed using SPSS, applying descriptive and inferential statistics. The findings indicated that reward management has a strong, positive, and statistically significant effect on employee retention. Competitive compensation, transparent job evaluation, merit-based promotion, and meaningful non-monetary recognition were identified as key contributors to employee commitment and long-term institutional loyalty.