Editorial summary. This is our text summary of an article published by frontiers. Charts, figures, and the author’s full voice are at the original — read it there .
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Editorial verdict
Methodologically adequate for an exploratory study, but the null finding on the key moderator (Islamic work ethics) undermines the central theoretical contribution — treat the direct-effect findings as credible, the moderating claims as inconclusive.
Executive summary
This study investigates the influence of perceived organizational politics (POP) on academic staff turnover intention and professional commitment within private universities in Mogadishu, Somalia, and examines whether Islamic work ethics (IWE) moderates these relationships. Drawing on Social Exchange Theory and Conservation of Resources theory, the authors hypothesize that POP increases turnover intention and reduces professional commitment, while IWE buffers these adverse effects. Using a cross-sectional quantitative survey of 235 academic staff and PLS-SEM analysis via SmartPLS 4, the study confirms that POP significantly and positively predicts turnover intention (β = 0.546, p < 0.001) and significantly and negatively predicts professional commitment (β = −0.124, p = 0.015). However, neither moderating hypothesis was supported: IWE did not significantly moderate the POP–turnover intention nor the POP–professional commitment relationship. The authors attribute the null moderation findings to Somalia's post-conflict institutional context, including weak governance and limited enforcement of ethical frameworks. The study contributes context-specific evidence from a highly underresearched setting and calls for longitudinal and qualitative follow-up research.
Key insights
- 1Perceived organizational politics is a strong positive predictor of academic staff turnover intention in Somali private universities, explaining approximately 30.8% of variance in turnover intention.
- 2Perceived organizational politics negatively affects professional commitment, though with a smaller effect size, suggesting the relationship between politics and retention of commitment is more nuanced than its relationship with exit intention.
- 3Islamic work ethics did not significantly moderate either the POP–turnover or POP–commitment relationship, indicating that in fragile, post-conflict institutional environments, ethical value frameworks alone may be insufficient to buffer the effects of workplace politics without accompanying structural reforms.
Practical takeaways
- In contexts where governance structures are weak, embedding ethical frameworks such as Islamic work ethics into institutional policy may need to be accompanied by structural interventions — such as transparent promotion criteria, independent oversight, and merit-based HR practices — to have measurable effect on staff retention and commitment.
- University administrators operating in politically charged environments can use the study's finding on POP's strong effect on turnover intention as evidence to prioritize procedural fairness in pay, promotion, and resource allocation as a retention lever.
Frameworks mentioned
Social Exchange Theory
A theoretical framework (Blau, 1964) used to explain workplace relationships as reciprocal exchanges where employees assess costs and benefits; applied here to explain how perceived organizational politics disrupts reciprocity norms, increasing turnover intention and reducing commitment.
Conservation of Resources Theory
A stress theory (Hobfoll, 1989) used to explain how Islamic work ethics may help employees preserve psychological resources under conditions of workplace politics, thereby reducing turnover and sustaining commitment.
PLS-SEM
Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling — a statistical technique used to test the proposed hypotheses, implemented via SmartPLS version 4.
References
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- Global Business and Organizational Excellence (2021).The nexus of physical, cognitive, and emotional engagement with academic staff turnover intention: the moderating role of organizational politics.
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- American Psychologist (1989).Conservation of resources: a new attempt at conceptualizing stress.
- Wiley (1964).Exchange and power in social life.
- Sage (2022).A primer on partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM).
- IIEP-UNESCO (2022).Education sector analysis: Federal government of Somalia.
- International Journal of Organizational Theory and Behavior (2024).Perceptions of organizational politics and organizational commitment: role of personal motive and ability.
- Personality and Individual Differences (2019).Perceptions of organizational politics, knowledge hiding, and employee creativity: the moderating role of professional commitment.
- Cross Cultural Management: An International Journal (2008).Islamic work ethic: a critical review.
- Ethics and Behavior (2023).Examining the influence of Islamic work ethics, organizational politics, and supervisor-initiated workplace incivility on employee deviant behaviors.
- Journal of Psychology (2021).The interaction between personal values and perception of organizational politics in predicting stress levels of staff members in academic institutions.
- European Journal of Management and Business Economics (2022).Human resource development and turnover intention: organizational commitment's role as a mediating variable.
- International Journal of Organizational Leadership (2024).The influence of nepotistic education leaders on employee turnover intentions: academic performance plays a mediator variable at private universities in Mogadishu.
- Journal of Applied Psychology (2003).Common method biases in behavioral research: a critical literature review and recommended remedies.
- International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Small Business (2017).Unravelling the link between creativity and individual entrepreneurial behaviour: the moderating role of Islamic work ethics.
- Heliyon (2024).Perceptions of politics and knowledge sharing: Moderating role of Islamic work ethic in the Islamic banking industry of Pakistan.
- Cogent Business and Management (2022).Demographic and job satisfaction variables influencing academic staffs' turnover intention in Debre Berhan University, Ethiopia.
Source & Provenance
frontiers
Ahmed-Nor Mohamed Abdi, Mohamud Ahmed Mohamed, Mohamed Ali Farah
April 24, 2025
Research Study
Africa
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