APPLICATION OF EQUITY THEORY ON SKILLED MANPOWER RETENTION: A STUDY OF MEDICAL PRACTITIONERS IN PUBLIC SPECIALIST HOSPITALS IN ENUGU METROPOLIS, NIGERIA

Verifiable evidences abound, which show that as at today there are many more patients than there are medical practitioners in an unbalanced proportion in public health institutions in Nigeria, and therefore, could be described as unhealthy to the health of Nigerian citizens. Evidences also show that there are high rate of attrition among the medical practitioners in Nigeria due to job dissatisfaction in their workplaces. Therefore, a call for means that can be used in retaining these key personnel that are required in the provision of health services to her citizens should be seen as a necessity. This paper is set out to examine the applicability of equity theory on skilled manpower retention in Nigerian public specialist hospitals. A descriptive survey research was adopted for the study, and correctional design as its method was used for analysis. Pearson Moment Correlation Coefficient was used to determine the internal consistency. The entire populations of 226 medical practitioners were studied, which also formed the sample size. The study is quite significant to the owners, employers and mangers of Nigerian public health institutions, most especially, at this time there is a general growing resentment on salary disparity among the health service employees of states government on one hand, and the federal government, on the other hand. This perceived salary disparity between the two major government health-service providers could contribute for the observed job dissatisfaction among the medical practitioners, more especially, among the state owned health service institutions. The study found strong relationships between job satisfaction as provided by equity theory and the respondent’s decision to stay with the current organizations