HERZBERG’S MOTIVATION-HYGIENE FACTORS AND EMPLOYEE RETENTION IN PRIVATE HIGHER EDUCATION INSTITUTIONS IN KOTA KINABALU, SABAH: A CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.35631/IJEPC.1164034Keywords:
Employee Retention, Herzberg's Two-Factor Theory, Job Satisfaction, Private Higher Education Institutions, Sabah, LecturersAbstract
Employee retention among lecturers remains a persistent concern in Malaysia’s private higher education sector, particularly in Sabah, where talent mobility, resource constraints, and a comparatively small academic labour market may intensify staffing challenges. Despite extensive research on employee turnover, limited evidence explains why lecturers remain in private higher education institutions (PHEIs) in Sabah using Herzberg’s Two-Factor Theory. This conceptual paper proposes a framework in which motivator factors (recognition, job autonomy, nature of work, and career advancement) and hygiene factors (salary, workload, interpersonal relationships, and job security) influence employee retention through lecturers’ job satisfaction as a mediating variable. The proposed study will adopt a quantitative, cross-sectional design involving full-time lecturers employed in registered PHEIs in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah. Respondents will be selected using purposive sampling, with the required sample size to be determined through an a priori statistical power analysis. Data will be collected using a structured questionnaire and analysed using IBM SPSS Statistics and Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM) in SmartPLS. The study hypothesises that motivator and hygiene factors influence lecturers’ job satisfaction, which subsequently mediates their relationship with employee retention. The proposed framework is expected to extend the contextual application of Herzberg’s Two-Factor Theory by testing its explanatory relevance to lecturer retention in an underexplored East Malaysian private higher education setting and to inform evidence-based retention practices.
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