The Effects of Biographical Variables on Affective Commitment at the Municipalities in the Nkangala District

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.