EFFECT OF MOTIVATIONAL FACTORS ON QUALITY OF WORK LIFE AMONG PRISON OFFICERS IN NAIVASHA MAIN PRISON, KENYA

Abstract

ABSTRACT Kenya prison service has undergone reforms which are geared towards improving the quality of work life of prison officers. This has been as result of go slow of prison officer in the year 2008. The go slow led to loss of employment of senior officers through retirement on public interest. The purpose of study was to examine the effects of motivating factors on quality of work life of prison officers. The specific objectives included; to examine the effect of working conditions on quality of work life of prison officers in Naivasha Main prison, to examine the effect of reward on quality of work life of prison officers in Naivasha Main prison, to assess the effect of the employee participation on quality of work life of prison officers in Naivasha Main prison, and to examine the effect of employee supervision on quality of work life of prison officers in Naivasha Main prison. The study was based on theory of motivation with focus on; Equity theory, Maslow’s of needs and Herzberg’s theories of motivation and Expectancy theory. The research adopted a descriptive research design involving a case study approach. The target population was made up of the 548 officers of various ranks of Naivasha Main Prison. A sample of 232 which is 42% of Naivasha Main Prison was drawn from the target population. The response rate was 66%(152 respondents .The study utilized self-administered questionnaires to collect data. A pilot study was undertaken in Naivasha medium prison before the actual data collection. Reliability and validity of the instrument was tested using Cronbach’s coefficient test and Cronbach’s Alpha of 0.822 holds for pilot study. The study found that prison officers are not satisfied with working conditions. Also they are not satisfied with rewards offered by the service. Equally they are dissatisfied with employee participation and employee supervision. Data analysis involved Pearson’s correlation and regression methods which were done with the aid of (SPSS) Statistical Package for Social Science version 22.0.We thus fail to accept the null hypothesis in all variables and state that there is a significant relationship between working conditions, reward, employee participation and employee supervision and quality of work life. Regression analysis was done to determine the relationship between working environment, reward, employee participation, and employee supervision and quality of work life. The study recommends that there is an urgent need for the Kenyan government to address aspects working condition, reward systems, employee participation and employee participation for prison officers.The study was of importance to government since it contributes towards drawing policies to enhance quality of work life of prison officers. The study contributes to the body of knowledge by unveiling the factors affecting quality of work life of prison officers and hence improvement of quality of work life among prison officers.