Abstract:
The purpose of this study was to investigate the determinants of employee commitment in tea organizations in
Kenya. Observations among 54 enlisted KTDA tea factories in Kenya show high disparity in average payment of
tea deliveries (bonus) over a three year period 2009 to 2012. According to Tiampati (2012) strong employee
commitment is correlated with high productivity, while low commitment lowers productivity. The primary
objective of this research was to determine the influence of training aspects on employee commitment in tea
factories in Kenya. To achieve this objective a survey was conducted to canvas the opinions of respondents in
public KTDA tea factories in Kenya. Purposive sampling was employed to select six (6) factories based on
second payment known as bonus; with three (3) high paying and three (3) low paying. Stratified sampling
technique was used to categorize population into managers and employees. Random sampling was used to give
the sample size of employees. A total of 273 respondents were randomly selected from a population frame of
861 employees. Qualitative and quantitative data was collected by use of self-administered structured
questionnaires and interview schedule. Analysis of data showed low paying factories had a lower average mean
in all aspects of training 46.25% compared to high paying at average mean 76.34%.Further analysis using
Spearman’s rank correlation test revealed significant relationship (P=0.00<0.01) between training and
commitment. It was recommended that training needs should be conducted periodically so as to organize specific
training programmes for improving skills, competence and built employee commitment.).The findings of this
study will help management with intervention strategies to put in place human resource practices like training
that enhance employee commitment to increase efficiency and productivity for better financial gains.
