Examination of the relationship between change in work goals and the employee morale in private Universities in Western Kenya

Literature suggests that various workplace changes in private universities, such as technology, communication methods, employee transfers, work goals, marketing, and operational costs, are interconnected. In Kenyan private universities, up to 50% of the workforce merely performs expected tasks, with research indicating that 47% of employees spend most of their work hours on social media. Employee turnover is recorded at 43%, but the underlying cause of these issues remains unknown (Kariuki, N. & Makori, M., 2015). It is also unclear whether these changes significantly impact employee morale in Kenyan private universities. This study specifically examined the relationship between changes in work goals and employee morale in private universities in western Kenya. The conclusions could be beneficial to various stakeholders in Kenya's private universities. The study was based on Goal Setting Theory, Job Characteristic Theory and used a correlational research design, targeting 1,440 faculty and staff members across four selected universities. Stratified random sampling was employed to select a sample of 313 workers from different departments. Data was collected through questionnaires and analyzed using Excel and SPSS tools, with frequency tables and charts used for data presentation. The results indicated a negative relationship between changes in work goals and employee morale (β=-.678, p<.05), accounting for 46.0% of the variance in employee morale (R2=.460, p<.05). The study concluded that changes in work goals significantly affect employee morale and recommended that private universities prepare their employees in advance for such changes.