Determinants of retention strategies and sustainable performance of academic staff of government-owned universities in Nigeria

Background: Retention of academic staff is gaining the attention of various educational stakeholders in many developing countries like Nigeria. However, there is little extant literature on how various determinants and risk factors affect retention strategies and sustainable performance of academic staff of government owned universities in Nigeria. Consequently, this paper showed the direct relationships between retention strategies and sustainable performance. Methods: Copies of the designed questionnaire were distributed to members of the academic staff ranging from the Professors to Graduate Assistants of the selected state-owned Universities in Southern Nigeria. Statistical analysis for the study included descriptive measures, measurement and structural models. Results: The determinants of retention strategies had significant impacts on the sustainable performance of academic staff at r = 0.660 (p < 0.05) and r = 0.558 (p < 0.05), respectively. A direct relationship was also established between academic retention and sustainable performance of staff in the selected universities (r = 0.187, p < 0.05). This implies that the 48.3% variance in sustainable performance is explained by the level of determinants/risk factors and retention of academic staff in the selected universities. Conclusions: The study concludes that adequate funding provides Nigerian universities with the opportunity to meet the needs of the growing population and to match other top universities elsewhere in the development of vital highly skilled manpower, research and innovations, which are the tools for sustainable performance.