Psychological capital, employability and work engagement in ministry of local government: the case of Mpigi district

Abstract

The research study was carried out on employees under Ministry of Local Government, the case of Mpigi District. The purpose of the research study was to examine the effect of Psychological capital and Employability on Work engagement on staff working with Mpigi District Local Government. The researcher purposively selected Mpigi District Local Government because it's structure is made up of different departments and provides an appropriate research context to test the hypotheses regarding the relationships between Psychological capital, Employability and work engagement. A sample size of 210 respondents was determined from a population of 442 respondents employed under Mpigi District Local Government. The data collected was computed and analyzed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences. The researcher applied the disproportionate stratified random sampling design as this helped get respondents based on stratification features like gender (Female 59.5%; Male 40.5%), Health and sanitation (28.6%), administration (14.6%), auditing (11.4%) to represent different departments. The study findings revealed that there is a significant positive relationship between Psychological Capital and Employability (r=P≤), Employability and Work Engagement (r=P≤) , Psychological Capital and Work Engagement (r=P≤) and the combined influence of Psychological Capital and Employability on Work Engagement. The researcher recommends that Local Governments need to adopt strategies such as regular workshop and in-service training courses and creation of a friendly work environment as this will increase Work engagement.