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Global Online Journal of Academic Research (GOJAR), Vol. 2, No. 1, Jan-Feb 2023 

 

 

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Assessment of Employees’ Satisfaction with Human 

Resource Management Practices in Selected Public 

Universities in Southeast Nigeria 

 

By 

Chukwujekwu Charles Onwuka, Tochukwu Emmanuel 

Madu & George Igboanugo Nweke 

 

 

Abstract 

Human resource practices remain cardinal factor towards the productivity of employees, 

as well as the overall performance of organisations. Yet, the feeling of employees in 

many public organisations remains unclear due to scanty empirical researches in that 

regard. This study was therefore positioned to assess employees’ satisfaction with 

Human Resource Management Practices (HRMPs) in selected public universities within 

the Southeast Nigeria. The study adopted the descriptive cross-sectional survey research 

design. The sample size for the study was 205 non-academic employees comprising of 

83 males and 122 females, who were selected for the study through self-sampling 

technique. Data for the study were collected through questionnaire administration which 

measured seven dimensions of human resource management practices. Data collected 

were processed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) software 

package version 26. Data analysis was performed using descriptive statistics including 

frequency count and simple percentage, and data analysed were presented using tables 

and charts. Findings of the study showed that in the overall, majority employees in the 

two selected public universities were dissatisfied with HRMPs in their organisations. 

However, in specific dimensions, it was found that the respondents expressed 

dissatisfaction in the HRMPs of: providing security to employees, hiring employees, 

managing effective teams, and training of employees in relevant skills; while they only 

expressed fair level of satisfaction on fair and performance-based compensation, 

creation of a flat and egalitarian organisation and making information easily accessible 

to employees. The study therefore recommended, among other things, the need for the 

establishment of regulatory framework that would guide human resource management 

practices in the public tertiary institutions. 

Keywords: employees, satisfaction, human resource, practices  

 



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Introduction 

Human resource management practices remain cardinal factor towards 

the productivity of employees, as well as the overall performance of 

organisations. This is considering the view that human resource 

management takes into account all aspects of the working relationships 

that could influence the satisfaction and overall welfare of employees, 

and enhance their commitment to organisational goals. Human resource 

management practices connote the process of attracting, motivating, and 

retaining employees to ensure the survival of the organization (Chong, 

Ngolob & Palaoang, 2020). Such practices may include: provision of 

security to employees, hiring the right employees, management of 

effective teams, fair and performance-based compensation, training in 

relevant skills, creating a flat and egalitarian organisation and making 

information easily accessible to those who need it (Vulpen, n.d). 

An important thing to highlight is the fact that employees’ level of 

satisfaction with human resource management practices within 

organisations could either promote their job satisfaction which would 

invariable increase their motivation and job morale, or constrain these 

aspects. This fact has been recognised by different organisations across 

the globe; consequently, various organisations are prioritising the human 

resource unit of their organisations, so as to influence positive job 

satisfaction level among their employees. In human resource 

management, there are two schools of thought that recognise how 

employees should be managed. The first school of thought is ‘best fit’ 

while the second school is ‘best practices’. For the former, human 

resource policies of any organisation should align with the business 

strategy of the organisation, while the later assumes that there is a set of 

universal human resource management practices that lead to optimal 

organisational performance (Van-Vulpen, n.d). 

Human resource management practices literature has appeared severally 

within the extant management literature and quite a number of scholars 

have highlighted that a relationship exists between human resource 

management practices and other employees’ work behaviour such as 

employees’ performance (Lim & Ahmad, 2021; Shaukat, Ashraf & 

Ghafoor, 2015), employees’ engagement (Ferdian, Azis, Prasetio & 

Darmawan, 2020), job satisfaction (Cherif, 2020), sustainable 

organisational performance (Rasool, Samma, Wang, Zhao & Zhang, 

2019), organisational commitment (Al-Aali, 2021), among other 

important variables. However, there appears to be scanty empirical 

literature on employees’ satisfaction with human relations practices, 

particularly within the context of public universities in Southeast Nigeria. 



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This gap in empirical research could becloud the understanding about the 

activities of the human resource departments and the working conditions 

of employees in the public tertiary institutions in Nigeria, particularly 

within the Southeast zone of the nation. Consequently, this present study 

aims to fill this gap in empirical research on the theme of this present 

study.  

Research Question 

1. What is the employees’ satisfaction with human resource management 

practices in the selected public tertiary institutions within the Southeast 

Nigeria? 

Methods 

Participants 

This study was conducted among 205 non-academic staff (Males = 83, 

Females = 122) in two selected public universities within the Southeast 

zone of Nigeria, who aged between a minimum age of 24 years to a 

maximum age of 59 years, with a mean age of 35.9 years. All the 

respondents completed the secondary school level of education which is 

an indication that all respondent could read and write basically. The 

respondents included in this study included non-academic staff from 

three different cadres: junior, intermediate and senior level staff. The 

respondents were selected through self-selection sampling technique in 

which respondents participated in the survey on their own accord. 

Specifically, the respondents were invited to participate in the study 

through Google Form data collection tool (A web-based data collection 

tool).  

Materials 

In this study, an online survey questionnaire was developed based on 

existing literature on the study variables. The questionnaire was titled 

‘Employee Satisfaction with Human Resource Management Practices 

(ESWHMRP)’ which was used to measure the satisfaction of non-

academic staff regarding the human relation practices in public 

universities within Southeast Nigeria. It consisted of two parts – the first 

part dealing with the socio-demographic characteristics of the 

respondents, while the second part contained seven items which were 

designed to obtain data on the employees’ satisfaction with human 

resource management practices. Items for the socio-demographic 

variables were designed on multiple response formats, while items for the 

substantive issues were designed on 5-point response options ranging 



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from ‘1’ – completely dissatisfied to ‘5’ – very satisfied. An example of 

the question is ‘How satisfied are you with human resource management 

practices of your organisation in terms of providing security to 

employees?’ with response option of 5 – very satisfied, 4 – somewhat 

satisfied, 3 – neither satisfied nor dissatisfied, 2 – dissatisfied, and 1 – 

completely dissatisfied. To ensure validity of the instrument, the 

questionnaire was subjected to content and face validity, in which a draft 

of the questionnaire was submitted to two experts who vetted the 

instruments to ensure that its contents actually measured the intended 

purpose, as well as made necessary corrections in terms of wordings and 

overall fit of the instruments before the final copy was uploaded on the 

web.  

Procedure 

The instrument was administered to the respondents through different 

social media groups for the non-academic staff of the selected 

universities, through the help of the groups’ administrators. While 

conducting the research, the researcher had to inquire from few non-

academic staffs regarding their social media groups and how to connect 

to the groups’ administrators. After the information was obtained, the 

research got acquainted with the groups’ administrators and expressed 

the research intention as well as seeking their help in uploading the 

survey link to their various groups. In all, three different social media 

groups including Whatsapp, Telegram and Facebook were identified and 

used for data collection. Through the help of the groups’ administrators, 

as well as the letter contained in the introductory part of the online-

questionnaire, the respondents were made to understand that the research 

was purely for academic purpose, confidentiality of their responses were 

guaranteed and that the response time for the questionnaire was 

approximately five minutes. Considering the fact that the research was 

online-based, the questionnaire was customised in such a way that could 

not allow multiple entry, which means that each respondent was allowed 

to complete the survey only once. A timeline of two weeks was set for 

the data collection process, after which any other entry was discarded. 

Thus, only data entries or responses obtained within the set timeline were 

used for data analysis. At the end of data timeline, only 205 data entries 

were obtained and used for data analysis. Data obtained from the study 

were initially contained in Excel document format; however the 

researcher applied data transformation in which the data contained in the 

original Excel format were transformed to the Statistical Package for 

Social Science (SPSS) software package version 26, which was used in 

processing all the relevant data for the study. 



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Data Analysis 

Data analysis in this study involved descriptive analysis of the responses 

gathered from the survey. First the socio-demographic variable was 

analysed using frequency count and simple percentage and presented in a 

composite table. Thereafter, the research question was equally answered 

using descriptive analysis applied on each of the seven items that 

measured employees’ satisfaction with human resource management 

practices.  

Results 

Table 1. 

Respondents’ Socio-Demographic Characteristics 

Socio-Demographic Variables Frequency Percent 

Gender   

Male 83 40.5 

Female 122 59.5 

Total 205 100.0 

   

Age Distribution   

24 - 29 Years 35 17.1 

30 - 35 Years 38 18.5 

36 - 41 Years 71 34.6 

42 - 47 Years 27 13.2 

48 - 53 Years 25 12.2 

54 - 59 Years 9 4.4 

Total 205 100.0 

   

Marital Status   

Single 53 25.9 

Married 115 56.1 

Separated 7 3.4 

Divorced 12 5.9 

Widowed 18 8.8 

Total 205 100.0 

   

Level of Educational Attainment   

Secondary School 36 17.6 

Tertiary (Diploma) 98 47.8 

Tertiary (Bachelors) 55 26.8 

Tertiary (Post-graduate) 16 7.8 

Total 205 100.0 

   

Official Rank   

Junior Staff 96 46.8 

Intermediate 79 38.5 

Senior 30 14.6 

Total 205 100.0 

 



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Table 1 contains results of data analysis in relation to the respondents’ 

socio-demographic variables. From the gender dimension, result of the 

analysis showed that higher proportion (59.5%) of female non-academic 

employees participated in the study compared to lower proportion 

(48.0%) of male employees. The respondents aged between the minimum 

ages of 24 years to the maximum age of 59 years, with those aged 

between 36 – 41 years constituting the highest proportion (34.6%) of the 

respondents within the sample. This implies that the majority of the 

respondents individuals within their mid-adult ages. This could also 

explain why more than half proportion (56.1%) of the respondents were 

married, compared to about a quarter proportion (25.9%) of those who 

were single. 
 

Data equally showed that all the respondents completed at least the 

secondary school level. However, nearly half proportion (47.8%) of them 

attained up to the tertiary (Diploma) level of education. These data imply 

that the respondents were literate enough to understand the contents of 

the questionnaire and to respond effectively to the questions. With 

regards to the respondents’ ranks, the majority (46.8%) of them were 

within the junior level, another significant (38.5%) of them were within 

their intermediate level, while the least proportion (14.6%) of them were 

at the senior level.  
 

Employees’ Satisfaction with Human Resource Management 

Practices 

 

Table 2. 
 

Respondents’ Satisfaction with Provision of Security to Employees 
 

Response Options Frequency Percent 

Completely Dissatisfied 66 32.2 

Dissatisfied 46 22.4 

Neither Satisfied nor Dissatisfied 56 27.3 

Somewhat Satisfied 24 11.7 

Very Satisfied 13 6.3 

Total 205 100.0 

 

Table contained in table 2 showed that majority (32.2%) of the 

respondents expressed complete dissatisfaction with the HRMPs 

regarding the provision of security to employees. However, about a 

quarter proportions (27.3%) of them were neither satisfied nor 

dissatisfied in this regard. 

 



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Figure 1. Respondents’ Satisfaction with HRMP of hiring employees 

Data contained in figure 1 provide clear evidence that the largest 

proportion (25.6%) of the respondents were equally completely 

dissatisfied with the human resource management practices in terms of 

hiring employees. This could imply that the human resource management 

practices in terms of hiring employees in the public Universities within 

the Southeast Nigeria is less optimal.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 

 

Figure 2. Respondents’ Satisfaction with HRMP practice of Managing 

Effective Teams 

 

Figure 2 clearly showed that more than half (53.2%) of the respondents 

were completely dissatisfied with the human resource management 

practice of managing effective teams for the employees. This was 

followed by approximately 21.0% of the respondents who ticked the 



Global Online Journal of Academic Research (GOJAR), Vol. 2, No. 1, Jan-Feb 2023 

 

 

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option ‘dissatisfied’. These suggest that the human resource management 

practice of managing effective employees’ teams in the selected public 

Universities fall below average. 

 

Table 3. 

Respondents’ Satisfaction with HRMP of Fair and performance-based 

compensation  

 

Response Options Frequency Percent 

Completely Dissatisfied       32 15.6 

Dissatisfied       45 22.0 

Neither Satisfied nor Dissatisfied          48 23.4 

Somewhat Satisfied 55 26.8 

Very Satisfied 25 12.2 

Total 205       100.0 
 

Table 3 shows that the highest proportion (26.8%) of the respondents 

ticked the option ‘somewhat satisfied’. This implies that the respondents 

were fairly satisfied with the human resource management practices in 

terms of fair and performance-based compensation for the employees. 

 

Table 4. 

Respondents’ Satisfaction with HRMP regarding Training of Employees 

in Relevant Skills 

 

Response Options Frequency Percent 

Completely Dissatisfied                  141    68.8 

Dissatisfied                    39    19.0 

Neither Satisfied nor Dissatisfied                    10    4.9 

Somewhat Satisfied                     11    5.4 

Very Satisfied                      4    2.0 

Total    205 100.0 

 

Data contained in table 4 showed that a very large proportion (68.8%) of 

the respondents expressed complete dissatisfaction with the human 

resource management practices in terms of training employees in relevant 

skills. This implies that the human resource practices in the public 

Universities in the Southeast Nigeria do not take appropriate steps to 

train their employees in relevant skills that facilitate their job 

performance.  

 



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Table 5.  
 

Respondents’ Satisfaction with HRMP regarding Creation of a Flat and 

Egalitarian organisation 

 

Response Options Frequency Percent 

Completely Dissatisfied 12 5.9 

Dissatisfied 19 9.3 

Neither Satisfied nor Dissatisfied 58 28.3 

Somewhat Satisfied 61 29.8 

Very Satisfied 55 26.8 

Total 205 100.0 
 

In table 5, it could be seen that the highest proportions (29.8%) of the 

respondents expressed a fair level of satisfaction regarding the human 

resource management practices of their organisation in terms of creating 

a flat and egalitarian organisation. This finding implies that the human 

resource units of public Universities in the Southeast Nigeria are 

effective in the practice of creating a democratic atmosphere that 

enhances employees’ workability. 

Table 6. 

Respondents’ Satisfaction with HRMP in terms of making Information 

Easily Accessible  

 

Response Options Frequency Percent 

Completely Dissatisfied 18 8.8 

Dissatisfied 24 11.7 

Neither Satisfied nor Dissatisfied 54 26.3 

Somewhat Satisfied 58 28.3 

Very Satisfied 51 24.9 

Total 205 100.0 

 

In table 6, it is also clear that the highest proportion (28.3%) of the 

respondents chose the response option ‘somewhat satisfied’, which 

implies that they were fairly satisfied with the human resource 

management practice in their organisations, in terms of making 

information easily accessible for the employees. This equally translates 

to the view that employees in public Universities within the Southeast 

Nigeria do not find it difficult accessing information relevant to their 

workability because the human resource units of their organisations are 

effective in that regard.  



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Figure 3: Respondents’ overall level of Satisfaction with Human 

Resource Management Practices 

 

Figure 3 shows that in the overall analysis, the largest proportion (36.1%) 

of the respondents were dissatisfied with the human resource 

management practices in their organisations. However, it is equally 

observed that another significant proportion (35.6%) of the respondents 

was neither satisfied nor dissatisfied with the human resource 

management practices. These findings translate to the view that the 

human resource management practices within the public universities in 

the Southeast of Nigeria are not quite impressive.  

 

Conclusion/Recommendations 

The importance of human resource management practices towards the 

productivity of employees, as well as the overall performance of 

organisations cannot be overemphasised. Thus, this present study was 

positioned to investigate the satisfaction of non-academic staff of public 

universities in the Southeast of Nigeria, towards human resource 

management practices in their organisations. This study has succeeded in 

describing the satisfaction of employees towards human resources 

management practices within public universities particularly in the 

Southeast of Nigeria, which contributes to the extant empirical researches 

on organisational management and practices. Conducting this study was 

considered important step in establishing what goes on in terms of human 

resource management in public universities, which is very crucial for the 

employee productivity and overall positive working conditions. Judging 



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from the analysis conducted on the overall data on the measures of 

employees’ satisfaction with the human resource management practices, 

it is concluded that non-academic employees of public universities in the 

Southeast of Nigeria are dissatisfied with the human resource 

management practices within their organisations. This has serious 

implications for the sustainability of productive working environment 

particularly within the academic environment; as such dissatisfaction 

could produce negative work behaviours that could jeopardise the overall 

productivity in the university environment. 

 

With appropriate regulatory policy frameworks for the universities’ 

human resource management, the working conditions of employees 

particularly the non-academic staff of public Universities would be 

improved, which would ultimately improve their workability, 

organisational commitment and overall productivity. Without a policy 

directed human resource management within the public universities, it 

would be impossible to establish positive human resource management 

practices that could translate the working environment into a pleasant 

experience for the employees. Consequently, the productivity of the 

employees would be marred and poor organisational productivity could 

be the long term effect of it. Against this backdrop, the following are 

recommended for way forward: 

1. There is need for the National Universities Commission to establish a 

regulatory framework that would guide human resource management 

practices in the public tertiary institutions. This would ensure that 

human resource managers become compliance with recommended 

practices, as well as consciously and actively involved in providing 

the atmosphere that could engender positive human resource 

management practices.  

2. There is need for the management of public universities to ensure that 

officers appointed for the office of human resource manager are 

competent and qualified to discharge the expected responsibilities.  

 

References 

Al-Aali, L. (2021). The effect of human resource practices and 

organizational commitment on employee performance. Annals of 



Global Online Journal of Academic Research (GOJAR), Vol. 2, No. 1, Jan-Feb 2023 

 

 

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Contemporary Developments in Management & HR 

(ACDMHR), 3(2), 11-27. 

Cherif, F. (2020). The role of human resource management practices and 

employee job satisfaction in predicting organizational commitment 

in Saudi Arabian banking sector. International Journal of 

Sociology and Social Policy, 40(7/8), 529-541.  

Chong, L., Ngolob, R. A., & Palaoang, T. D. (2020). Human resource 

management (HRM) practices. Journal of Advanced Management 

Science, 8(4), 121-125. https://doi: 10.18178/joams.8.4.121-125 

Ferdian, A., Azis, E., Prasetio, A. P., & Darmawan, M. I. (2020). Human 

resource practice and employee engagement: The mediation of 

organizational support and employee satisfaction. European 

Journal of Molecular & Clinical Medicine, 7(10), 1576-1590. 

https://ejmcm.com/pdf_6765_17a2602f1c7b2ac80c62e112bb267c6

a.html 

Lim, C. T., & Ahmad, N. (2021). The relationship between human 

resource management practices and employee 

performance. Research in Management of Technology and 

Business, 2(1), 123-136. 

https://publisher.uthm.edu.my/periodicals/index.php/rmtb/ 

article/view/1986 

Rasool, S. F., Samma, M., Wang, M., Zhao, Y., & Zhang, Y. (2019). 

How human resource management practices translate into 

sustainable organizational performance: the mediating role of 

product, process and knowledge innovation. Psychology research 

and behavior management, 1009-1025. https:doi:10.2147/PRBM. 

S204662 

Shaukat, H., Ashraf, N., & Ghafoor, S. (2015). Impact of human resource 

management practices on employees’ performance. Middle-East 

Journal of Scientific Research, 23(2), 329-338. https:// 

doi:10.5829/idosi.mejsr.2015.23.02.22117 

Van-Vulpen, E. (n.d). 7 human resource best practices (A mini-guide to 

HRM). https://www.aihr.com/blog/human-resource-best-practices/ 



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Author Information: Dr Chukwujekwu Charles Onwuka is a 

lecturer in the Department of Sociology, Chukwuemeka 

Odumegwu Ojukwu University, Anambra State, Nigeria.  

Email: cc.onwuka@coou.edu.ng.    
 

 

Dr Tochukwu Emmanuel Madu is a lecturer in the Department of 

Criminology and Security Studies, Chukwuemeka Odumegwu 

Ojukwu University, Anambra State, Nigeria.   

Email: emmanuel.madu@gmail.com  

 

 

George Igboanugo Nweke is affiliated to the Department of Criminology 

and Security Studies, Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu University, 

Anambra State, Nigeria. Email: gi.nweke@coou.edu.ng 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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