Quality of Work Life, Job Enrichment and their Impact on Employee
Retention: Exploratory Research in Private Colleges in Baghdad
MOHAMMED MUSTAFA AHMED1,3, MOHAMED KHUDARI1,
ABBAS MOHAMMED HUSSEIN2, JURAIFA JAIS1
1College of Graduate Studies (COGS), Universiti Tenaga Nasional,
Jalan IKRAM-UNITEN, 43000, Kajang, Selangor,
MALAYSIA
2The University of Mashreq,
Baghdad, IRAQ
3Imam Ja'afar Al-sadiq University,
Baghdad, IRAQ
Abstract: Quality of work life (QWL) can be impacted by a variety of factors, including organizational
structure, the physical environment, job security, and the opportunity for personal growth and development. As
job enrichment is a key component of QWL, it can play an important role in employee retention. The main
objective of this research is to determine the dimensions of QWL and job enrichment that promote employee
retention and how those dimensions significantly impact employee retention. The research was based on a
questionnaire survey with (358) faculty members representing 10 private colleges in Baghdad, the
questionnaires’ reliability and validity were examined, and data were described and analysed using a
descriptive and analytical approach by using SmartPLS to test the hypothesises. The findings assert both
quality of working life and job enrichment had a significant impact on employee retention. The study urges
employers to offer highly desirable working conditions, and by utilizing a job enrichment strategy, faculty staff
roles are created to keep them.
Key-Words: - Quality of Work Life, Job Enrichment, Employee retention, Human Resource Management,
Private Colleges, Iraq.
Received: October 27, 2022. Revised: March 9, 2023. Accepted: April 1, 2023. Published: April 13, 2023.
1 Introduction
Organizations transitioned from a manufacturing
economy to a knowledge one. This latter regards
knowledge as a critical component of strategic
planning allowing firms to tap into a source of
competitive advantage. The transition was
accompanied by a rise in calls from OB and HRM
professionals to restructure the workplace to be
more conducive to knowledge work, [1]. Based on
the hypothesis that knowledge workers are
extremely influential in businesses and that
knowledge is the most important competitive
component, [2]. Organizations are fundamentally
an expansion of people's thoughts and activities,
[3]. For a decade, scholars stated that intellectual
property was the key success factor, [4]. Therefore,
if an organization decides to achieve a competitive
advantage, it must create, build, and maintain vital
resources, [5]. and these resources must be rare,
valuable, hard to duplicate, and replaceable, [6].
According to, [7] knowledge meets all of Barney's
requirements. It is therefore the organization's most
valuable asset, [8]. The organization's activities
and, consequently, its competitiveness may be
impacted by how it produces, uses, and maintains
these assets, [9].
With the rise of the knowledge economy, a wave of
job-hopping occurred, and the concept of a lifetime
job faded, [10]. Furthermore, changing jobs
frequently is not necessarily an indication of
failure, [11]. Therefore, employees can move freely
within and across organizations, posing a new
business problem, [12]. Owing to the fact that high
performers prefer working for companies that are
known for being great places to work, there is an
imbalance in the demand-supply of qualified
people, and that imbalance is anticipated to widen
negatively, [13]. Regarding these new realities,
organizations must work proactively to increase
employee retention because losing employees
would mean losing a source of long-term
competitive advantage. As a result, on the one
hand, there is a constant scholarly and professional
need to understand the psychological mechanisms
WSEAS TRANSACTIONS on BUSINESS and ECONOMICS
DOI: 10.37394/23207.2023.20.78
Mohammed Mustafa Ahmed,
Mohamed Khudari,
Abbas Mohammed Hussein, Juraifa Jais
E-ISSN: 2224-2899
848
Volume 20, 2023
that push employees to leave the organization, [14].
moreover, the literature argues that there is
insignificant evidence in this vein. According to the
literature, the issue of employee departure always
exists, and overcoming it is a challenging
management task, [15]. Due to the lack of
evidence, the impact of specific organizational
arrangements such as job enrichment and quality of
working life on employees' behavioural intentions
remains unclear, [16]. Furthermore, the arguments
suggest that future research should focus on
psychological determinants that may influence
employees' decision to discontinue working at the
organization. This research aims to emphasize the
significance of (QWL) job enrichment dimensions
for employee retention in Baghdad's private
colleges. The main objectives are:
- To determine the dimensions of QWL and job
enrichment that promote employee retention.
- To determine the effect of QWL dimensions on
employee retention.
- To analyze how job enrichment impacts
significantly employee retention.
Documenting an employee's abilities and
knowledge is challenging because they reside in
their hands and minds, [17]. Considering that
employees can alter the organization in which they
work, Organizations are under intense pressure to
develop a plan for employee retention. As a
consequence, there is a gap in the past studies
regarding the analysis of the relationship between
QWL and employee retention, further research is
needed to examine how QWL dimensions and job
enrichment impact significantly employee
retention, and this study fills that need.
The research is ordered as follows: The study's
introduction is presented in Section 1, the literature
review in Section 2, the hypotheses' development is
discussed in the methodology in Section 3, Section
4 discusses the results, discussion in Section 5, and
the conclusion in Section 6.
2 Literature Review
How an organization recruits, hires, motivates, and
keeps its employees is crucial to its success.
Organizations nowadays must be more adaptable,
and this latter is attributed to being able to grow
their workforce and value employee dedication.
Organizations must therefore implement a plan to
enhance its' QWL. It enhances both organizational
and individual efficiency and effectiveness, [18].
QWL is the most important factor that will affect
their intention to remain in the. It is a major force
that contributes to sharpening the motivation of
workers, who are the organization's weapons, in
meeting the challenges and achieving the best
results, [19]. [20] found that organizations with
high QWL could attract, develop and retain good
workers. It also contributes to reducing costs,
solving problems and enhancing workers'
performance and productivity, [21] and enhancing
the company's standing as a desirable work
environment, [22]. Therefore, many organizations
believe that the satisfaction and happiness of the
organization's employees should be achieved and
that the way is to provide a QWL, [23]. QWL
consists of five components which are; (1) Social
integration: the characteristics of the workgroup,
how work is carried out and the rewards and
regulatory sanctions that have an impact on the
workplace, [24]. (2) Opportunities for employee
development: Organizations need workers with
diverse skills and capacities, [25]. (3) Healthy
environment Making sure that employees are safe
is important for the well-being of the workplace,
[15]. (4) Adequacy and fairness of salary, whereas
salary is the main source of income for individuals
within organizations and one of the most important
incentives by which people's needs are satisfied. (5)
Organizational work: The QWL of employees will
be unique and better if they exercise their rights,
[26]. The evolution of the manufacturing system
has created several challenges that were never
faced by organizations before the Industrial
Revolution, where the work is performed on a large
scale by a large number of workers, so the
management start thinking about how to design and
manage work in order to enhance productivity and
assist companies to achieve the maximum
efficiency, [27]. [28] developed a model which he
called a model of the basic characteristics of the
job, highlighting the significance of particular job
enrichment in terms of how it affects workers'
motivation, Through it, they showed that for
workers to be motivated they must feel three
positive psychological situations, Specifically, they
must recognize the importance of their work, feel
responsible for it, and be aware of the outcomes of
their efforts, They reported that five job
enrichments contribute to workers' sense of these
three needs, namely; the variety of skill, what the
job is, what it means, and how to do it, all of which
affect the sense of the meaning of work, while
Autonomy affects the sense of responsibility for the
job, and finally feedback affects employees' sense
of knowledge of the outcome of their efforts. The
model of Hackman & Oldham consists of five
components which are; (1) Task Identity; which is
defined as function performance from beginning to
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Mohammed Mustafa Ahmed,
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E-ISSN: 2224-2899
849
end with precise results. (2) Task Significance; is
how much a worker believes their work is
significant, [29]. Researchers frequently emphasize
that by considering how much a job affects others,
performance can be increased, [30]. (3) Skill
Variety; is the opportunity to perform diverse job
activities using diverse skills, [31]. (4) Autonomy;
where is defined as an employee’s degree of
flexibility in fulfilling job responsibilities, [32]. (5)
Feedback; which is the degree to which a worker
receives information from the job itself as an
indicator of the effectiveness of his or her efforts,
[33].
Employee retention is a set of moves designed to
retain employees, which are implemented as soon
as the employees are employed, [35]. Also, it is all
the means and the sum of the decision-making
behaviours that the organization is doing to retain
its workforce, [34]. Some researchers set out a
comprehensive concept to be defined as the
employer's concerted efforts to create and sustain
an environment that motivates staff to stick with
the business by putting in place policies and
procedures that meet their particular needs, [36].
Other studies indicated that organizations recently
faced great challenges in recruitment and
recruitment, so they must have adequate procedures
for retaining employees, [37]. Therefore, one of the
main concerns of many companies nowadays is
retaining employees with the right and necessary
skills, [38]. researchers argue that high turnover
rates are evidence that the organization is poorly
run, as it suggests that individuals are dissatisfied
with their jobs, [39]. As Individuals who feel
dissatisfied with their jobs begin to search for better
alternatives and then compare these alternatives
with their current jobs using the expected value
criterion. They leave the latter if the former is
judged better, [40]. Based on the strategic
importance of employees and the cost of replacing
those with high value, organizations have begun to
focus on work turnover issues, [41]. They are
looking for ways to improve their competitive edge
as an excellent workplace while avoiding the
apparent and hidden costs of high employee
turnover, [42]. Based on the theory of social
exchange, when one party receives favourable
positive treatment, the other party becomes
obligated to respond in kind, [43]. The view in
favour of job rotation indicates that it is fair for the
organization to inject new blood into the
organization to avoid stagnation, as managers can
control workforce costs, [39]. A degree of job
rotation may be functional more than a
dysfunctional dysfunction since it leads to the
departure of poor-performing employees and their
replacement by more efficient employees, [44].
3 Methodology
3.1 Data Gathering and Sampling
The population of this research is composed of ten
colleges located in Baghdad. To get the required
sample size, it was used the equation (N > 50 +
8m), [45] to determine the minimal size of the
sample which is (90) college members. Therefore,
(358) questionnaires were distributed, and the
number of returned questionnaires was (318) while
the remaining were rejected as shown in table (1).
The respondents' educational attainment has been
distributed as Bachelor (40%), master (25%) and
PhD (35%).
A questionnaire was used to collect data which
consisted of four parts in the questionnaire. The
sample's demographics were in the first part. The
second part contained 40 questions focused on the
job enrichment dimensions. The third part included
15 questions about QWL. The final part had 20
questions regarding employee retention.
Table 1. Distributed, returned questionnaires and
response rates by colleges
Universities
Distributed
Returned
Response
Rate
Al-Turath University
35
33
0.94
Al Rafidain
University
29
25
0.86
Baghdad College
22
16
0.72
Dijlah University
36
34
0.94
Al-Isra University
65
60
0.92
Ashur University
20
15
0.75
The University of
Mashreq
20
16
0.80
Al Mamoun
University
34
30
0.88
Al-Farahidi
University
32
28
0.88
Imam Ja'afar Al-
Sadiq university
65
63
0.96
Total
358
318
0.88
3.2 Hypothesis Development
The research seeks to test the following hypotheses,
represented by the research framework as shown in
figure (1)
1. QWL has a significant impact on employee
retention.
2. Job enrichment has a significant impact on
employee retention.
WSEAS TRANSACTIONS on BUSINESS and ECONOMICS
DOI: 10.37394/23207.2023.20.78
Mohammed Mustafa Ahmed,
Mohamed Khudari,
Abbas Mohammed Hussein, Juraifa Jais
E-ISSN: 2224-2899
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Fig. 1: Hypotheses Framework
4 Results
The measurement of the normality test is displayed
in Table (2) since the values of Kurtosis and
Skewness coefficients are close to zero, so the
sample mean and standard deviation follow a
normal distribution, [46]. In the evaluation of the
scale's accuracy and compliance, the study relied
on the convergent validity, stability, average
variance extracted, composite reliability and
Cronbach’s Alpha measurement. As shown in table
(3) the Cronbach alpha coefficient of the scales is
between 0.70 and 0.78, and the AVEs of the
constructs in this study are between 0.61 and 0.74.
The scale composite reliability is greater than 0.80,
[47]. Furthermore, the descriptive statistics
presented in Table (4), as it shows the values of the
weighted computational mean attributable to the
research variables are greater than its standard
counterpart and fall within a high category to
confirm the strength of the agreement in the
answers. It can be confirmed by standard deviation
values, which show a high degree of homogeneity.
Table 2. Normality Test
QWL
Job
enrichment
Employee
retention
Kurtosis
Skewness
Kurtosis
Skewness
Kurtosis
Skewness
0.41
-0.71
0.16
-0.61
-0.16
-0.43
-0.62
-0.42
-0.05
-0.47
-0.00
-0.48
0.57
-0.66
0.11
-0.61
0.21
-0.56
-0.30
-0.5
0.04
-0.52
-0.22
-0.44
-0.36
-0.49
-0.40
-0.43
-0.13
-0.59
-0.50
-0.45
-0.18
-0.46
-0.16
-0.55
0.29
-0.73
-0.38
-0.39
-.21
-0.41
-0.35
-0.46
-0.29
-0.58
-0.06
-0.52
-0.74
-0.35
-0.24
-0.49
0.11
-0.66
-0.34
-0.47
-0.84
-0.2
-0.15
-0.47
-0.13
-0.52
-0.15
-0.45
-0.63
-0.43
-0.09
-0.32
-0.14
-0.48
0.32
-0.66
-0.26
-0.39
-0.12
-0.64
0.06
-0.48
-0.05
-0.56
-0.16
-0.57
-0.11
-0.54
-0.32
-0.55
0.25
-0.62
0.27
-0.75
-0.86
-0.37
-0.14
-0.47
-0.20
-0.46
-0.11
-0.52
0.07
-0.60
The
-0.55
0.21
-0.64
---
---
---
---
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DOI: 10.37394/23207.2023.20.78
Mohammed Mustafa Ahmed,
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Table 3. Reliability and stability test
questions
Original
Sample
Standard
Deviation
T Statistics
(|O/STDEV|)
Cronbach'
s Alpha
rho_A
Composite
Reliability
Average
Variance
Extracted
(AVE)
QWL
Q1 <- X1
0.82
0.02
35.74
0.78
0.79
0.87
0.69
Q2 <- X1
0.88
0.01
63.87
Q3 <- X1
0.79
0.02
30.09
W1 <- X2
0.84
0.02
41.22
0.80
0.80
0.88
0.71
W2 <- X2
0.85
0.01
63.69
W3 <- X2
0.84
0.01
52.49
R1 <- X3
0.80
0.02
39.13
0.84
0.84
0.89
0.68
R2 <- X3
0.85
0.01
54.40
R3 <- X3
0.84
0.02
38.77
R4 <- X3
0.78
0.02
28.80
A1 <- X4
0.80
0.02
35.44
0.84
0.84
0.88
0.61
A2 <- X4
0.68
0.04
16.37
A3 <- X4
0.85
0.01
47.93
A4 <- X4
0.79
0.02
36.02
A5 <- X4
0.78
0.02
38.74
S1 <- X5
0.79
0.03
25.89
0.76
0.76
0.86
0.68
S2 <- X5
0.87
0.01
67.24
S3 <- X5
0.80
0.02
37.36
Job enrichment
D1 <- M1
0.74
0.02
27.10
0.81
0.81
0.86
0.56
D2 <- M1
0.76
0.03
25.47
D3 <- M1
0.78
0.02
30.97
D4 <- M1
0.74
0.03
20.97
D5 <- M1
0.73
0.03
21.80
G1 <- M2
0.88
0.01
58.72
0.82
0.82
0.89
0.74
G2 <- M2
0.84
0.01
47.88
G3 <- M2
0.85
0.02
42.14
C1 <- M3
0.83
0.02
39.79
0.79
0.79
0.87
0.70
C2 <- M3
0.85
0.01
51.95
C3 <- M3
0.83
0.01
43.49
B1 <- M4
0.84
0.01
47.85
0.82
0.82
0.89
0.73
B2 <- M4
0.86
0.01
61.43
B3 <- M4
0.85
0.01
47.97
V1 <- M5
0.81
0.02
27.62
0.70
0.71
0.83
0.62
V2 <- M5
0.70
0.03
18.20
V3 <- M5
0.84
0.01
47.11
Employee retention
H1 <- Y1
0.80
0.02
32.24
0.82
0.82
0.88
0.65
H2 <- Y1
0.80
0.03
24.51
H3 <- Y1
0.82
0.02
38.53
H4 <- Y1
0.79
0.02
39.79
J1 <- Y2
0.83
0.01
45.70
0.86
0.86
0.91
0.71
J2 <- Y2
0.86
0.02
38.14
J3 <- Y2
0.85
0.01
47.22
J4 <- Y2
0.83
0.01
42.94
L1 <- Y3
0.71
0.03
18.35
0.87
0.87
0.90
0.66
L2 <- Y3
0.82
0.02
33.77
L3 <- Y3
0.86
0.01
54.63
L4 <- Y3
0.83
0.02
42.36
L5 <- Y3
0.84
0.02
38.88
P1 <- Y4
0.76
0.03
21.08
0.82
0.82
0.88
0.65
P2 <- Y4
0.82
0.02
34.54
P3 <- Y4
0.82
0.01
46.26
P4 <- Y4
0.82
0.02
40.56
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DOI: 10.37394/23207.2023.20.78
Mohammed Mustafa Ahmed,
Mohamed Khudari,
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Table 4. Descriptive Statistical
Al-Turath
University
Al Rafidain
University
College
Baghdad College
of Economic
Sciences
Dijlah University
College
Al-Isra
University
College
Ashur University
College
The University of
Mashreq
Al Mamoun
University
College
Al-Farahidi
University
Imam Ja'afar Al-
Sadiq university
Colleges
dimensions
mean
standar
d
deviati
on
mean
standar
d
deviati
on
mean
standar
d
deviati
on
mean
standar
d
deviati
on
mean
standar
d
deviati
on
mean
standar
d
deviati
on
mean
standar
d
deviati
on
mean
standar
d
deviati
on
mean
standar
d
deviati
on
mean
standar
d
deviati
on
4. 71
0.63
3.89
0.69
4.08
0.57
3.71
0.56
4.11
0.60
3.51
1.09
4.16
0.73
4.05
0.77
4.04
0.69
3.54
0.78
Social integration
3.929
0.845
3.787
0.793
3.958
0.619
3.559
0.601
4.172
0.633
3.800
0.898
4.250
0.793
4.167
0.796
3.881
0.986
3.525
0.703
Training and
Development
3.841
0.847
3.720
0.836
3.766
0.668
3.500
0.619
4.100
0.592
3.900
0.930
4.328
0.729
4.183
0.679
4.080
0.642
3.381
0.683
Healthy Environment
3.855
0.814
3.776
0.829
3.725
0.759
3.482
0.587
4.043
0.642
3.760
0.889
4.163
0.670
3.973
0.664
4.043
0.600
3.397
0.642
Salary Adequacy and
Fairness
3.808
0.755
3.680
0.779
3.771
0.767
3.451
0.619
4.050
0.686
4.000
0.882
4.292
0.676
4.167
0.736
4.107
0.796
3.536
0.670
Organizational Work
3.939
0.793
3.824
0.715
3.825
0.623
3.594
0.536
4.097
0.616
3.907
0.796
3.850
0.853
4.120
0.655
3.921
0.683
3.551
0.591
Autonomy
3.758
0.843
3.560
0.809
3.625
0.631
3.461
0.662
4.128
0.629
4.178
0.689
4.250
0.627
4.322
0.646
4.143
0.728
3.328
0.773
Skill Variety
3.717
0.886
3.667
0.805
3.688
0.704
3.451
0.613
4.061
0.642
4.200
0.575
3.958
0.698
4.078
0.921
4.060
0.827
3.421
0.722
Task Significance
3.697
0.929
3.667
0.701
3.875
0.729
3.520
0.626
4.206
0.661
4.378
0.589
4.250
0.812
4.300
0.583
4.202
0.766
3.459
0.821
Task Identity
3.727
0.880
3.733
0.745
4.000
0.584
3.588
0.569
3.978
0.718
3.800
0.785
3.583
0.694
3.956
0.801
3.952
0.840
3.339
0.703
The Feedback
3.712
0.616
3.680
0.631
3.672
0.514
3.515
0.529
4.058
0.724
4.150
0.693
4.063
0.698
4.008
0.730
4.036
0.863
3.377
0.699
Work-life Balance
3.765
0.836
3.570
0.755
3.688
0.566
3.441
0.558
4.063
0.783
4.083
0.588
4.375
0.438
3.933
0.960
4.089
0.773
3.353
0.775
Career Opportunities
3.794
0.670
3.672
0.571
3.738
0.483
3.471
0.532
4.140
0.706
4.147
0.787
4.438
0.538
4.113
0.891
4.057
0.644
3.315
0.705
Appreciation and
Motivation
3.841
0.715
3.480
0.797
3.781
0.584
3.552
0.499
4.138
0.739
4.183
0.747
4.266
0.680
4.033
1.017
4.080
0.667
3.500
0.619
Remain with
Organization
WSEAS TRANSACTIONS on BUSINESS and ECONOMICS
DOI: 10.37394/23207.2023.20.78
Mohammed Mustafa Ahmed,
Mohamed Khudari,
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E-ISSN: 2224-2899
853
This study employed regression analysis to test the
impact of QWL and job enrichment on employee
retention as stated in the research framework. The
results show that QWL and job enrichment have a
positive impact on employee retention (=0.81 &
0.86, T-value =36.53 & 43.00 respectively) which
support H1 and H2, also the findings indicate a
good relationship, whereas the values of (R2 = 66%
and 75%), respectively. This indicates a goodness-
of-fit of the model as shown in Table (5).
Table 5. The Regression Analysis Results
Independent
Variables
β
T
impact
R2
Q²
QWL
0.81
36.53
1.96
0.66
0.35
Job
enrichment
0.86
43.00
2.98
0.75
0.40
The dependent variable is Employee Retention
Furthermore, the aforementioned findings support
the hypothesis that the sub-dimensions of QWL
have a significant impact on employee retention, as
shown in Table (6), five sub-dimensions of QWL;
social integration, training and development,
healthy environment, salary adequacy and its
fairness, and organizational work were tested their
impact on employee retention.
Table 6. The Regression Analysis Results of the
sub-dimensions of QWL
β
T
impact
R2
Q²
Social
Integration
0.61
15.47
0.61
0.37
0.20
Training and
Development
0.66
17.44
0.79
0.44
0.23
Healthy
Environment
0.71
23.87
1.04
0.51
0.27
Salary
Adequacy and
its Fairness
0.76
36.39
1.41
0.58
0.31
Organizational
Work
0.76
26.82
1.43
0.58
0.31
The dependent variable is Employee Retention
As a result, all the five sub-dimensions of QWL
have a positive and significant impact on employee
retention, and the model has predictive relevance,
as the value of Q2 is between 0.20 and 0.31, which
are more than zero indicating that values are well
reconstructed, [48].
The results show that two sub-dimensions; salary
adequacy and its fairness, and organizational work
have the highest impact on employee retention
(=0.76, T-value =36.39 and =0.76, T-value = 26.82,
respectively). That might be attributed to the
following points; firstly, the ability of a salary to
meet an individual's needs, and that employees
should be paid a salary that is commensurate with
their experience, qualifications, and the value they
provide to their employer. This includes paying
similar salaries to employees with similar
qualifications and experience, as well as ensuring
that salaries are adjusted for inflation and other
market factors. Secondly, organizational work
ensures that employees have access to the resources
they need to be successful and that they have the
opportunity to grow and develop in their roles,
[49].
Regarding the impact of sub-dimensions of job
enrichment on employee retention, this study
implied regression analysis of five sub-dimensions
of job enrichment; Autonomy, Skill Variety, Task
Significant, and Feedback, the results are presented
in Table (7). All sub-dimensions of job enrichment
have a positive and significant impact on employee
retention, and this model has predictive relevance,
as the value of Q2 is between 0.27 and 0.34, which
are more than zero indicating that values are well
reconstructed, [48]. The results show that Task
identity has the highest impact on employee
retention (=0.80, T-value =36.56), these findings
are in line with, [50] which refer that Task identity
involves giving employees a sense of ownership
over their work and allowing them to complete a
task from start to finish, which can increase their
feelings of satisfaction and engagement. Task
identity also encourages problem-solving,
creativity, and initiative, which can further
motivate employees and lead to increased job
satisfaction and retention. Although the lowest
impact on employee retention was reported by
Autonomy (=0.71, T-value =22.33), but it is an
important component of job enrichment because it
allows employees to make decisions, take initiative,
and be creative in their work. Autonomy also
allows employees to take ownership of their work,
which can result in increased job satisfaction,
whereas it has a good relationship with employee
retention (R2 = 51%).
Table 7. The Regression Analysis Results of the
Job Enrichment's Sub-Dimensions
β
T
impact
R2
Q²
Autonomy
0.71
22.335
1.07
0.51
0.27
Skill
variety
0.77
33.034
1.53
0.60
0.32
Task
significant
0.74
25.870
1.25
0.55
0.29
Task
identity
0.80
36.566
1.79
0.64
0.34
Feedback
0.75
25.437
1.33
0.57
0.30
The dependent variable is Employee Retention
WSEAS TRANSACTIONS on BUSINESS and ECONOMICS
DOI: 10.37394/23207.2023.20.78
Mohammed Mustafa Ahmed,
Mohamed Khudari,
Abbas Mohammed Hussein, Juraifa Jais
E-ISSN: 2224-2899
854
5 Discussion
The results of the research showed the interest of
most of the colleges surveyed in the dimension of
social integration, as there is interest in the role of
the faculty members in solving the problems that
the colleges suffer from and respect for their
opinions, and this indicates that most of the senior
leaders in the colleges surveyed realize that the
main driver of the college is the teaching which
guarantees its success, but at the same time, we find
that social integration has some regression in the
Assyrian College as a result of not giving the
faculty members great freedom in the process of
expressing his opinion or participating in
addressing the problems that the college suffers
from. The results also indicated that all the faculties
studied had a real belief in the role of training and
development in the positive reflection on the
performance levels of the faculty members, as we
find that most of the faculties have continuous
training courses through which they seek to
develop their skills to reflect this on the general
levels of faculty members that will eventually lead
to achieving the goals pursued by the colleges. the
colleges investigated seek to provide a healthy
work environment in which a culture of respect and
appreciation prevails, with interest in the personal
lives of faculty members, because of its effective
and basic role in creating motivation towards work
and making the work environment healthy and
enjoyable for work. salary levels and fairness in
most of the colleges investigated were well and
fairly in terms of the salary value compared to the
surrounding environment and competing
organizations, and we also find that some colleges
were linking the size of the tasks at work with the
value of the salary, and therefore the presence of
these The equation will reflect positively on the
QWL, as the workers’ feeling of reassurance and a
sense of justice will reflect positively on the QWL,
but the researcher at the same time has found that
there are negative effects that have affected the
value of salaries in all the private colleges
investigated, This negatively affected the QWL in
these colleges. Autonomy in the process of defining
the curriculum and the method of teaching, as the
colleges surveyed realize that granting autonomy
will give a good space for faculty members to
creativity and innovation and use their skills in the
way of delivering information to students and also
contributes to job enrichment with percentages
Good within the researched colleges. Researchers
concluded that the tasks performed by the faculty
members in the faculties investigated have a
specific task identity, as all the faculties
investigated work on defining the tasks and roles
that the faculty members perform from the
beginning to the end and also give them some
freedom in their implementation. the research
showed that most of the colleges investigated have
a good interest in the process of feedback, which
gives the faculty members feedback on the levels of
their work and whether he was good or not and
how to correct the deviations that may exist during
their work first-hand, and the researcher believes
that the presence of these indicators effectively
helps to Monitoring the performance levels of the
two faculty members and achieving first-hand
treatment to achieve job enrichment. The balance
between the work environment and the daily
personal life of the faculty members is somewhat
balanced in most of the colleges investigated. The
career path levels of most of the colleges studied
were good, with interest in the promotion processes
of faculty members to advance in ranks and
academic benefits, which the more they advanced
in, the more they contributed to receiving
leadership positions within the college, and the
researcher believes that the colleges have the more
interest in Promoting the faculty members and
facilitating his treatment of promotion whenever
this contributes positively to achieving satisfaction
and increasing the retention rate of employees for
the longest possible period. the colleges
investigated try from time to time to implement
incentive measures for faculty members, but at the
same time, they are not at the required level,
because although most of the sample have the
intention to stay and not to move to other colleges,
this matter is not considered a positive thing. After
all, the current circumstances have This trend was
reflected as a result of the negative effects of the
Corona pandemic, which contributed to the lack of
offered jobs, especially for private colleges that
adopted e-learning in most of their subjects, which
often does not require a large number compared to
attendance education. the colleges surveyed had
good rates in the QWL within the colleges, with an
interest in activating the basic dimensions that help
improve the QWL, because of their effective and
basic role in maintaining workers and contributing
to achieving the goals of the college that it seeks to
her. the colleges investigated for job enrichment, as
most of those colleges seek to have job enrichment
in which the faculty members exercise their duties
independently through which they can create and
innovate at work while defining the quality and
basic work tasks so that there is no overlap in the
powers or override them. The above results confirm
that the studied colleges can increase the
WSEAS TRANSACTIONS on BUSINESS and ECONOMICS
DOI: 10.37394/23207.2023.20.78
Mohammed Mustafa Ahmed,
Mohamed Khudari,
Abbas Mohammed Hussein, Juraifa Jais
E-ISSN: 2224-2899
855
effectiveness of employee retention when they give
clear attention to the QWL and job enrichment, and
this was confirmed by the results of the existence of
an effect and a significant correlation of a
relationship between the QWL and job enrichment
in employee retention.
6 Conclusion
This research amid to investigate the impact of sub-
dimensions of both factors of QWL and job
enrichment on employee retention. All sub-
dimensions have a significant positive impact on
employee retention. QWL initiatives such as
providing job security and meaningful work,
offering competitive wages and benefits, and
providing job enrichment opportunities can all
contribute to increased employee loyalty and
satisfaction. When employees feel valued and
respected, they are more likely to stay at the
company, which in turn, can lead to improved
organizational performance. Having a strong QWL
program can also create a positive culture that
attracts high-quality employees, further enhancing
the organization’s competitiveness. Therefore, it is
important for organizations to consider
implementing QWL initiatives and job enrichment
to retain quality employees and improve their
performance.
The study contributes to the body of knowledge by
emphasising on psychological determinants that
may influence employees' decision to discontinue
working at the organization. Those determinants
were represented by the sub-dimensions of both
factors of QWL and job enrichment.
This study advises to achieve social integration, the
colleges must increase the effectiveness of this
integration through continuous communication
with the faculty staff and attention to their opinions
and suggestions. To develop the levels of training
and development within the researched colleges,
there should be a specification of the training needs
for each faculty member, and based on this need,
the training courses are, that is, there is no random
dispatch of faculty members, as is the case now in
some departments by sending the employee who
does not have Work in the current period of the
training course. To activate a healthy and effective
work environment in which respect and
appreciation prevail between senior management
and faculty members, it is necessary to involve the
faculty members in the decision-making process to
increase their confidence and satisfaction.
Participation will generate a sense in the employees
of their importance and their position within the
college in the decision-making processes, which in
turn will lead to strengthening the bridges of
relationship and interaction between the senior
management and the teaching staff. On the other
hand, there should be high transparency by the
senior management by presenting the results of the
college or university council meeting for all
scientific departments to keep them informed of the
latest developments so that there is interaction and
clarity by the teaching staff to understand the
decisions issued by the senior management. it is
necessary to develop a financial regulation that
explains the mechanisms and method of calculating
the salary and distributing it to the faculty
members, and that this regulation is characterized
by justice among all faculty members and without
exceptions to achieve justice in that and also to be
characterized by stability and non-change between
the period And another with the need for the value
of the amount to be characterized by fairness in its
calculation compared to the economic and social
conditions in the country. For the creative energies
of the faculty members to be properly invested
when work is done within the specialization and
skill that the faculty members possess, and also to
contribute to reducing work pressures. The
feedback process must be activated because of its
effective role in correcting deviations in the overall
performance of the faculties, and this is done by
activating the process of feedback on the levels of
student satisfaction with the educational process in
general, provided that this is done every quarter,
and the same is about the results of Evaluation of
the two faculty members from the other side to
evaluate the educational process in a holistic
manner and from both sides to diagnose the overall
situation of the university and to indicate the levels
of progress and regression if it occurs. The
necessity of paying attention to the career path of
faculty members by developing a comprehensive
plan that explains the position of each faculty
member regarding promotion, when he should be
promoted, and what are the requirements for that.
To encourage and retain the teaching staff within
the college, it is necessary to activate the incentive
measures, such as allocating a financial or moral
award allocated to the exemplary faculty members
every month as a motivational measure for work
and perseverance. Provided that they are by
specific mechanisms and conditions that are agreed
upon in advance and are distributed to the faculty
members for review to achieve transparency and
acceptance of these incentive measures.
WSEAS TRANSACTIONS on BUSINESS and ECONOMICS
DOI: 10.37394/23207.2023.20.78
Mohammed Mustafa Ahmed,
Mohamed Khudari,
Abbas Mohammed Hussein, Juraifa Jais
E-ISSN: 2224-2899
856
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problem to the final findings and solution.
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WSEAS TRANSACTIONS on BUSINESS and ECONOMICS
DOI: 10.37394/23207.2023.20.78
Mohammed Mustafa Ahmed,
Mohamed Khudari,
Abbas Mohammed Hussein, Juraifa Jais
E-ISSN: 2224-2899
858