PRINCIPALS’ HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT PRACTICES AS PREDICTORS OF TEACHERS’ JOB COMMITMENT IN PUBLIC SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN ANAMBRA STATE

Abstract

The study investigated principals’ human resource management practices as predictors of teachers’ job commitment in public secondary schools in Anambra State. Three research questions guided the study and three null hypotheses were tested at 0.05 level of significance. A correlational research design was adopted for the study. The population of the study comprised 8,187 teachers from the 269 public secondary schools in Anambra State. The sample for this study comprised 748 teachers, selected using a multistage sampling procedure. Two sets of instruments titled “Principals’ Human Resource Management Practices Questionnaire (PHRMPQ)” and “Teachers’ Job Commitment (TJCS)” were used for data collection. The instruments were subjected to face validation by three experts: two in Educational Management and one in Measurement and Evaluation, all from the Department of Educational Foundations, Faculty of Education, Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu University, Igbariam Campus. The instruments were subjected to a test of internal consistency using Cronbach's alpha, yielding coefficients of 0.82 for PHRMPQ and 0.84 for TJCS. The researcher, together with five research assistants, administered the questionnaires directly to the respondents and a 98% return rate was recorded. Data were analyzed using simple regression to answer the research questions and test the hypotheses. The study's findings revealed that principals’ professional development, motivational, and disciplinary practices are strong and significant predictors of teachers’ job commitment in public secondary schools in Anambra State. Based on the findings, it was recommended, among others, that the Ministry of Education should prioritize annual staff professional development by allocating more funds for training programmes to improve teachers’ job commitment in public secondary schools.