Influence of Inter-Personal Relationships on the Retention of Nurses in Public Hospitals in Kiambu County, Kenya

Abstract

Employee retention demands strategic categorization of influential elements and the professional application of essential rules to retain the workforce. This research specifically examines the impact of motivational strategies on the retention of registered nurses in public hospitals within Kiambu County, Kenya. The primary objective is to determine the relationship between working conditions, professional development, remuneration, interpersonal relationships, and the retention of registered nurses in this context. Motivational strategies and retention serve as the key variables, drawing from Herzberg’s two-factor theory and Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. The study, utilizing a correlational research design, targets a population of 450 registered nurses and 11 human resource officers from selected public hospitals in Kiambu County. The sample comprises 211 registered nurses and 11 human resource officers. Data was collected through questionnaires and interviews, with quantitative analysis employing descriptive and inferential statistics, including correlations, linear and stepwise regression, and Chi-square at a 0.05 level of significance. According to the results obtained in Table 2, there is a high correlation between the dependent variable (retention of nurses) and the independent variable (interpersonal relationships), as indicated by the value of R, which is 0.932. This suggests a strong positive correlation between the two variables. The value of R squared is 0.869, indicating that approximately 86.9% of the variability in the retention of nurses can be explained by interpersonal relationships. Further, more than seven tenths of the respondents agree that there has been team spirit between the registered nurses and the management and that registered nurses are involved in decision making. the suggestion is that employees tend to become loyal and remain with the organization when they feel a sense of belonging and contribute to the group's overall functioning as a cohesive unit. Overall aggregation of the inter-personal relationships points towards majority of the registered nurses implying good status of inter-personal relationships.