Manpower Management Strategies and Retention of Employees in Small and Medium Scale Enterprises in Southern District of Cross River State, Nigeria

Abstract

The study aimed at determining the relationship between manpower management strategies and retention of employee in small and medium scale enterprises in Southern District of Cross River State, Nigeria. Two specific purposes and corresponding research questions and hypotheses were formulated to guide the study. The study adopted correlational survey research design and the population was 469 employee comprising 22 managers and 447 employees from which a sample of 210 employees was drawn using the Krejcie and Morgan (1970) model and were selected using purposive random sampling technique. A 28-item researcher instrument titled "Manpower Management Strategies and Employee Retention Questionnaire (MMSERQ)" used for data collection was face validated by three educational specialist. The reliability of the instrument yielded a reliability coefficient of 0.76 using Cronbach Alpha method. The obtained data was analysed using linear regression for answering research question as well as testing the null hypotheses at .05 level of significance. The analysis of the research questions indicated among others that: there exist a relationship between the sub-independent variables (staff compensation and staff motivation) and retention of employees. Findings further revealed that there is a significant linear relationship between staff compensation and staff motivation, and retention of employees in small and medium scale entreprise. Based on the findings, the study recommended among others that: To ensure continuous economic growth and development of small and medium enterprises, business managers should ensure their staff welfare is adequately taken care of to aid the successful achievement of organisational goals via display of staff competency.