Reward management practice and employee commitment in public health facilities of Uganda, a case of Entebbe grade b hospital

Abstract

The study examined the relationship between reward management practice and employee commitment in Public Health Facilities of Uganda. A Case of Entebbe Grade B Hospital. Specifically, the study investigated the relationship between financial rewards, non-financial rewards, employee benefits, work life balance and employee commitment in Entebbe Grade B Hospital. The theories that were utilized in the execution of this study includes: Abraham Maslows’ hierarchy of needs and Vroom’s Expectancy Theory. The study adopted a correlational and case study design to collect specific in-depth data about the variables and employed a mixed research approach where both quantitative and qualitative research approaches to collect the data for the study. The study targeted a population of 343 consisted of administrative and health staff of Entebbe Grade, and a sample of 181 respondents was determined with aid of Krejcie and Morgan’s Table, however only 168 respondents successfully participated in the study. The data collection instruments were questionnaires and interviews; and data analysis was done using frequency and percentage tables, Mean & SD, Correlation Analysis and Regression analysis. The regression results indicated that reward management practice in form of financial rewards, non-financial rewards, employee benefits and work life balance highly contributed positively to employee commitment in Entebbe Grade B Hospital by 69.6%. Overall, the study concludes that reward management practice in form of financial rewards, and non-financial rewards, employee benefits, work life balance is highly related with employee commitment in Entebbe Grade B Hospital. The study recommends that management of Entebbe Grade B Hospital as well as other public health hospitals in Uganda should ensure that when conducting salary adjustment, consider an individual’s performance and expertise, there is also need to develop programs of sponsoring the top performing employees to pursue further studies of their interest as a way of encouraging continued improved commitment. In addition, public health hospitals need to establish a reward management policy system and involve employees in determining acceptable and affordable rewards based on achievement of performance targets. Similar research in other sectors like the private health sector and industries like the manufacturing, hospitality, aviation industry, education among others should be conducted to validate the results of this study.