Psychological Capital And Employee Turnover Intentions Of Senior Staff At The University Of Cape Coast: The Mediating Effect Of Organisational Commitment

Abstract

In the realm of organisational psychology, the exploration of psychological capital and its impact on employee behavior is of paramount interest. As such, it is very expedient to assess this impact on turnover intentions. The purpose of this study was to examine the influence of psychological capital on employee turnover intentions: the mediating effect of organisational commitment among senior staff at the University of Cape Coast, Ghana. The study employed the quantitative approach and explanatory research design due to its research objectives. The sample size was determined by the Krejcie and Morgan (1970) sample determination, which pegged the sample at 319 out of a population of 1570 senior staff at the University of Cape Coast. However, data obtained from 297 respondents with a 93.4 percent response rate were reliable and thus used for the study. The results showed that, optimism had the highest significant effect on turnover intentions among employees due to the magnitude of its path coefficient, this was followed by hope and resilience. Also, it was found that organisational commitment has a significant and a negative effect on employee turnover intentions. Finally, the results showed that hope and resilience can only influence employee turnover intentions by means of how employees are committed to the organisation. Based on the outcome of the study, the study recommended that, human resource management of the university needs to pay more attention to employee’s appeal of psychological contract in the management practice by means of paying attention to the maintenance of the employees’ relation resource.