Moderating Effect Of Employee Training On The Relationship Between Organizational Commitment And Employee Performance Among Insurance Firms’ Employees In Eldoret, Kenya

Abstract

Given its profound influence, organizational commitment is increasingly becoming a valued asset for most organizations. Commitment related work deficiencies are of concern to employers. Employees with low commitment have been found to play no integral part in the organization. However, the mechanics of how to forge this commitment to the organization is still not straightforward, more specifically among insurance firms in Kenya. Built on social psychological theories of social exchange and social identification, the study attempts to examine the moderating effect of employee training on the association between employee organizational commitment and consequent performance. Towards this endeavour the study was founded on 4 key objectives: to determine the effect of AC on employee performance, to determine the effect of CC on employee performance, to determine the effect of NC on employee performance and lastly to determine whether training moderates the link between employee organizational commitment and job performance for selected insurance companies in Eldoret town.The study adopted an explanatory research design thatwent beyond mere description by explaining the pertinent relationships that most descriptive studies only observed. A target population was drawn from 10 selected insurance firms in Eldoret and a census of 156 respondents was taken. The study employed questionnaires to gather research data. Data collected was analyzed by use of both descriptive (mean& standard deviation) and inferential statistics (regression) and with the aid of SPSS software. Validity of the research instrument was ascertained through frequent deliberations with project supervisors in the field of interest. A preliminary survey was carried out on 3 firms to make sure question items from the questionnaire mirror the research objectives.To ascertain scale reliability, scales> 0.7 were deemed reliable (Hair et al., 2010) therefore accepted. From the results, the predictors of OC are AC& NC. The regression model showed that training moderated employee commitment and performance. The study therefore recommends that organizations anticipate training needs of its employees, use right training programs to achieve effective employee commitment towards an end that is better performance. Organizational management in consultation with policy makers in the insurance industry to keenly conceptualize, execute and analyze employee commitment strategies in a manner that works towards improving employee performance (benchmark best practices). Lastly the study recommends that future research be informed by other theories other than social psychology theories.