Abstract:
The study aimed to determine the effects of biographical variables on affective commitment in the
municipalities in the Nkangala district. International literature revealed that similar studies had been conducted
before in municipalities, but there is a shortage in the South African context, especially in the Mpumalanga
municipalities. Therefore, this study addressed this gap. Other key findings in the literature showed that it is
vitally crucial for municipal managers to have affectively committed employees because they are less likely to
resign, and they support managers in achieving strategic objectives. This study was quantitative and influenced
by the positivism paradigm. The population size was 2941, and 808 respondents were conveniently sampled.
The response rate was 27.47%. The researchers tested five hypotheses using analysis of variance (ANOVA)
and T-Test. The key findings revealed no significant difference at 0.05 or 5% in affective commitment levels
regarding gender and employment status. Males have a lower affective commitment mean (M) score (M=2.65)
as compared to their female (M=2.67) counterparts. Older employees (55-65: Years, M=3.09) had a higher
level of affective commitment than the other age groups. Senior management (M=3.00) had higher levels of
affective commitment, but the difference was insignificant at 5%. Employees with a certificate (M=3.33) had
the highest affective commitment levels compared to employees with other education levels. The difference
was significant at 5%. This study implies that municipal managers might find it challenging to retain younger
and educated employees because they have lower levels of affective commitment.
