Enhancing Employee Retention in Private Higher Education through HR Practices, Engagement, and Technology

Abstract

Employee retention has emerged as a critical challenge for private higher education institutions (HEIs), particularly in developing countries where financial constraints and competitive labor markets intensify workforce instability. This study examines the impact of human resource practices on employee retention in private HEIs in Islamabad, Pakistan, while incorporating employee engagement and job satisfaction as mediating variables and organizational culture and technology adoption as moderating factors. A quantitative and a cross-sectional design was applied to collect data among 350 employees in the private HEIs. The relationship between the hypotheses was assessed using SEM. Results show that ER is affected by HRP both directly and indirectly via EE and JS. The mediation analysis proves the importance of these psychological factors to translate HRP into retention outcomes. Moreover, the findings show that OC and TA enhance the connection between HRP and EE, which cannot be overlooked in the context of contextual factors. The paper is an addition to the literature because it derives an integrated framework that incorporates mediating and moderating processes with respect to the context of private HEIs. In practice, the results indicate that the implementation strategy of a comprehensive HRP that focuses on the development of employees, the culture of support, and technological innovation to enhance retention should be adopted in HEIs. This research can also be useful to policymakers and institutional administrators who want to improve the stability of the workforce and performance of the organization within the university sector.