Career Satisfaction

Career satisfaction is a feeling of employees that reveals professional achievement (^{Toropova et al., 2021}). Conceptually, "It refers to employees' sense of achievement in their careers, and maybe derived from such factors as promotion, pay level, and opportunities for professional development" (^{Kong, et al., 2020, p. 3}). It is an individual predisposition connected with success at work (^{Alves et al., 2014}) that depends on the HRM practices, responsible for employees' well-being (^{Spurk, et al., 2011}).

Herzberg's two-factor theory provides empirical support for analyzing the career satisfaction. The theory measures the difference between motivation and hygiene factors. Motivation factors show how the employees can achieve the recognition, responsibility, advancement, achievement, and the possibility for growth in the career, whereas hygiene factors include organizational HRM policies, for instance interpersonal relations, relationship with supervisors, working environment and salary (^{Alshmemri, et al., 2017}). Concerning career satisfaction, ^{Bakotić (2016)} believes that the financial incentives are important to enhance the employee's commitment. According to ^{Marqueze & Moreno (2005)} and ^{Abacar et al., (2020)} the career satisfaction promotes employees' psychological contracts at work.

It is important to note that employee success depends on career satisfaction (^{Cardoso & Costa, 2016}). So, the HRM is responsible to enhance the performance and positive attitudes at work. The efficiency of the tasks depends on the high motivation of the employee (^{Bonneton, et al. 2022}). ^{Bagdadli & Gianecchini (2019)} explain that HRM practices are the key strategies for retaining the best employees, using the career development tools as essential factors of career satisfaction.

Considering Herzberg's two-factor theory, the career satisfaction deals with two facets, such as intrinsic (subjective) and extrinsic (objective) factors of employee's retention (^{Koustelios & Tsigilis, 2005}). For ^{Armstrong (2006)} the intrinsic factors refer to the fulfillment of organizational interest. The employee aims to reach the recognition of work. While ^{Trivellas et al. (2015)} confirm that career satisfaction depends on extrinsic factors, related to rewards and financial incentives. Following the theory above, the satisfaction of public servants is subjective because they defend the public interest (^{Taylor & Westover, 2011}).

^{Hur (2017)} tested the Herzberg's two-factor theory of Motivation in the Public Sector. The author categorized the motivators as (opportunity for advancement, training, career development, increased responsibility, pride, authority, incentives, and flexibility of HRM procedures) and the Hygiene Factors (job security, pension and retirement plan, less red tape, less conflict, medical and insurance, family friendly policy and salary). The study confirms that Herzberg's two factor theory of motivation can be applied to the public servants. In this case, we therefore use this theory as a framework to analyze how the career satisfaction can enhance the retention of Mozambican adult educators.

Retention of Adult Educators

In competitive business world, the attraction and retention of employees are vital to organizational success. ^{Kong et al. (2020, p. 2)} recognize that "to retain and motivate the best employees, organizations must work to enhance their career satisfaction". It is the responsibility of the managers to assist their employees, linking the HRM policies and practices. However, the retention of adult educators is considered disruptive. The imposition of various reform initiatives in an educational context, disconnected from the HRM capacity, represents intolerable conditions for career development (^{Fullan, 2009}). One of the deep feelings of adult educators is the job insecurity. ^{Goodman et al., (2015)} reveal obstacles to retaining employees in organizations. The lack of financial career incentives and limitations of benefits are the reasons for turnover.

The Herzberg's two-factor theory also explain the career satisfaction as factor of intention to turnover. The empirical results show that leadership career support moderates the relationship between career management practices, job satisfaction and turnover intention (^{Oliveira, et al., 2019}). In this case ^{Schaefer, et. al., (2012)} point out three important factors of adult educators' retention, namely: career support, financial incentives, and organizational climate.

First, career support is an HRM strategy, which recognize the employee work effort. It serves to enhance work performance as a valuable resource for labor productivity. To raise work commitment, the organizations promote career mentoring to support the employees (^{Rhoades & Eisenberger, 2002}; ^{Eisenberger, et al., 1990}). According to ^{Kong et al. (2020, p. 3)} "organizational career support, which can include orientation programs, mentoring, job rotation, and workshops, are crucial in meeting employees' career expectations". ^{Shore and Tetrick (1991)} concluded that career support has a positive relationship with employee retention.

Second, the financial incentives contribute to career satisfaction and increase the retention of employees. However, the study of ^{See et al. (2020)} found the high turnover level of adult educators in educational system, for reasons of low rewards and less career incentives. So that, compensation has a high effect on employee retention within a company because with satisfactory compensation, employees will feel that the company is caring about employee needs. The financial incentives help the fulfillment of employee's lives, improving the engagement, job satisfaction and well-being.

Third, the organizational climate plays an important role in the retention of adult educators. ^{Chapman (1983)} recognizes the social and professional integration as a successfully key to attract the employees. The leadership support enhances the adult educator to stay in the organization. ^{Toropova et al., (2021)} found the cooperation between adult educators and the school principal as an important strategy to retain the staff. Based on this notion, the team-working, mentoring and a supportive leadership culture encourage adult educators to stay in the organization (^{Harsch & Festing, 2020}). "Thus, perceived organizational career support may encourage employees' expectation for future career growth and help them persist in pursuing their career goals" (^{Kong et al, 2020, p.3}).

Adult Educators' Career in Mozambique

Mozambique has a high illiteracy rate among people aged 15 and above. The 2017 Census data estimates that, in this age group, 39% of the Mozambican population cannot read or write. This rate is high among women (49.4%) and low (27.2%) for men. The illiteracy for women is related to poverty and has a significant impact on children's education, as it is women who mostly assume this responsibility of household in rural area (^{MINEDH, 2020}).

Given the importance of illiteracy reduction, the adult educator career is vital because it helps individuals who are out of school to develop basic skills, promoting the lifelong learning (^{Mário & Nandja, 2005}; ^{Manuel, et al., 2017}). Unfortunately, the Mozambican Public Education Sector does not clearly define the legal status of adult educator career management. The work contract is seasonal and precarious, with duration of 10 months. The study of ^{Luís (2012)} points out some weaknesses in HRM, concerning the adult educators' career.

There are not clear procedures to attract, select, develop, and retain adult educators (^{Linden, 2005}; ^{Rungo, 2005}). For example, the recruitment process is done at the school level, on an arbitrary and ad hoc basis. These professionals are hired voluntarily, with low levels of training (from grades 4 to 9). Moreover, one of the critical points of the adult educator career is the lack of the opportunities for financial incentives and medical assurance. This scenario affects the satisfaction at work. According to ^{Juliasse (2021)} the adult educators work under precarious infrastructural conditions. They have not adequate classrooms for working. A similar picture emerges from the study of ^{Manuel et al. (2017, p.10)} which confirms that "adult educator work environment faces the lack of resources. All the equipment used for practical work is old and obsolete in training centers".

Research Design

To increase our understanding of this topic, we have explored in-depth how career satisfaction factors contribute to the retention of adult educators. To achieve the goal of this research, we have chosen an exploratory, qualitative approach. The methodological option is appropriate for social sciences research (^{Creswell, 2009}). The qualitative research is characterized by its flexibility, openness, and ability to respond to a certain social problem (^{Busetto, et al., 2020}). This type of research offers tools for understanding complex situations and provides opportunities to expand our views of some research problem (^{Austin & Sutton, 2014}). It allows describing people's beliefs, experiences, attitudes, behaviors, and interactions regarding a certain social phenomenon (^{Pathak, et al., 2013}). The qualitative research emphasizes the unique, unrepeatable, and subjective characteristics of the explored topic. The subjectivity plays a decisive role in constructing and interpret theories about psychological phenomena (^{Cuenya & Ruetti, 2010}).

This paper involves an interpretative approach and analyzes different perspectives on the topic, which describe the meanings of HRM problem that affects the employees (^{Aspers & Corte, 2019}). We have chosen grounded theory method to understand the career satisfaction of adult educators. This method is a process of generating theory from data and it is used in qualitative research for collecting the data, coding, and analyzing the information provided by the participants. The researcher selects the information and decides about the categories to develop new theory (^{Noble & Mitchell, 2016}).

Participants

The sample was composed of 25 Mozambican adult educators (17 males and 8 females). The participants were selected by convenient method. The sample was determined by saturation point. The decision of the sample changed over the data collection process. The saturation point was crucial to decide the number of participants could be considered for the research (^{Hennink & Kaiser, 2022}). During the interview process, when we reached the 25 adult educators, no additional information in the data collection was needed. The saturation refers to the point during data analysis at which incoming data points (interviews) produce little or no new useful information (^{Guest, et al., 2020}; ^{Sebele-Mpofu, 2020}; ^{Islam & Aldaihani, 2022}). The researcher begins to hear the same answers again and again. It is the time to stop collecting data and start the analyzing process of what has been collected (^{Saunders et al., 2018}).

The participants were between 23 to 40 years old. Regarding education levels, 44% had completed the grade seven of primary school; 28% grade nine of secondary school; 8% grade 10 of secondary school and 20% grade 12 of secondary school. The work experience of the participants varies between 2 to 12 years, according to the table below:

Table 1 Sociodemographic characteristics of the participants 

Source: Owner elaboration

Instrument and Procedures

For data collection, we conducted 25 semi-structured interviews containing 11 questions. The first section presents sociodemographic data (gender, marital status, age, education, and professional experience) of the participants as presented in the Table 1. The second comprised the information regarding career satisfaction and the third section analyzed the career retention of adult educators. The study was conducted and approved by the Ethics Committee of the Rovuma University for studies involving humans with credential 06.0738.2016 of 2nd August 2021 and was authorized by the Angoche Distrital Education Youth and Technological Service (11.08.2021). The semi-structured interview guideline used the following topics in Table below:

Table 2 Interview topics 

Source: Owner elaboration

According to Table 2, we analyzed the career satisfaction factors and the retention of adult educators. The semi-structured interviews were administered in a harmonious working environment. We contacted the adult educators and explained the purpose of the research. Then, the information was recorded to be later transcribed. We translated the data collected from Portuguese to English. The duration of the interview was about 30-45 minutes for each participant. We have guaranteed the anonymity and confidentiality of the information provided by interviewees. We followed the recommendations of ^{Cuenya and Ruetti (2010)}, which explain that the study of psychological phenomenon requires rigor and structured questions to explore in depth the research problem. However, it is important to contrast these questions with the facts of reality. So, the progress of Psychology as science can provide new inputs that can explain the future research.

The aim of this study was to analyze the career satisfaction as a retention factor of adult educator. The interviews were recorded, transcribed, and analyzed using the Amberscript program. This program separated the questions of the researcher and the answers of the participants. Then, we underlined the keywords of the statements, suggesting the categories that could add the data analysis. The information was processed using grounded theory method. For ^{Hsieh & Shannon (2005)} this analysis has categorized the information with similar meanings, to obtain the understanding of the phenomenon under study.

To ensure qualitative rigor, we followed the approach chosen by ^{Bengtsson (2016)} considering the four stages, namely: pre-analysis, recontextualization, categorization, and compilation of the information. In the first stage, we used a systematic process to code the interview data and then subjectively analyze and interpret to identify the most relevant aspects of the topic. The second stage we roll the preliminary categories and filtered the information, based on the literature review. In the third stage, we separated similar and different information and we constructed the final categories.

In the last stage, we analyzed the information with the support of the literature to avoid data bias. In this context, we coded each interviewee using the letter "P" and the number "1", for example (P1, P2, P3, P4.... P25).

Following the ^{Campo-Redondo (2021)} procedures, we performed the open, axial and selective mode to analyze the data obtained by interview. Regarding the open coding, we identified the main theoretical categories of career satisfaction and retention factor. This analysis generated similar and different conceptual subcategories. Then we address the axial coding to review the subcategories to find the theoretical dimensions. In this context, we compared the differences and similarities of the subcategories to identify the aggregated dimensions. Finally, we performed the selective coding of the data and we found the final categories. In sum, to examine the narratives of the participants concerning the career satisfaction as retention factor of adult educators, we divided the data into micro-analysis and successive comparisons. We found the connections of some pieces of the data to other subcategories, linking to main category. Once, we conceived the theoretical matrix to find the relationships between the subcategories, in order to find a bridge between the Herzberg's Theory and the conclusive analysis.

Career Development

Our interview confirmed that career development is main category found of career satisfaction in adult educators. The participants have considered as a category which enhance career advancement. However, they outlined that in Mozambican Public Education Sector are few strategies of HRM. So, the career progression of adult educators is weak because they are not public servants, but volunteer staff. They are hired to perform seasonal activities. This is reflected in the following statements below.

There is a difference between the primary school teacher and the adult educator. In terms of work, we are equal, we have the task of teaching, but career management is different. I participate in school activities, but the salary is not equal. It makes me sad because I cannot advance in my career. It is difficult to move up the career ladder (P5).

I will never develop my career since I joined as an adult educator. I am 11 years of experience, and I am still on the same remuneration. I am inserted into the education system, but I do not have opportunities like other employees. There is neither growth nor career development (P12).

We do not have professional development. I am just a volunteer. I do not have a career progression. I have been here for 09 years, but I never had opportunities to advance in my career (P13).

Career Training

In our data, we found particularities of career satisfaction connected to the training of the adult educator. One of the most important categories that enhance the career satisfaction of adult educators is training. It helps the development of professional skills, improving the job performance. For instance, the training itself can be a strategic HRM to support adult educators. The interviewees recognized that they have been receiving training. However, they regretted to be scarce and take place sporadically. We illustrate in the following statements below:

We receive training once a year. This happens during the holiday time, but it is not enough (P1).

We are few trained. The training takes place from time to time. They happen at the beginning of the career (P7).

We had some trainings. The outcome is to improve teaching and learning. No one explains to us about our career (P9).

Career Rewards

The extrinsic rewards (salaries and financial incentives) are pointed out by the interviewees as being one of the essential factors of career satisfaction. When the organization increases the rewards, the employees tend to improve the performance at work. However, adult educators confirmed poor rewards in comparison to teachers. Despite the nature of their job, they earn 10 United States Dollar (USD) per month. This is a professional constraint of adult educators. They feel undervalued. In this context, we demonstrate below the interviewees' statements:

I am dissatisfied with my career. Because the rewards are low. We work three or four months without being paid. We continue working, so we do not sit at home waiting for the salaries. We work for the passion. One month, we can be paid, but the next one it does not. The wages are not enough to support the basic monthly expenses. We are paid 650 Meticais per month (equivalent to 10 USD) (P1).

From 2008 to 2011 we have been paid per year. They accumulated the remuneration for a whole year. There were some changes from 2012, we have paid per month. In 2015 there was an increase of 100.00 MT (1.5 USD), and we now receive 650 MT (10 USD) (P10).

In this section, we found the factors of career satisfaction. According to the Figure 1, we also analyzed the retention of adult educators. It is important to note that the retention of employees in the organization depends on strategies, which are conceived to promote attraction and retention, creating favorable organizational support and career incentive packages. In this context, the interviewees pointed the career support and career incentives as being essential factors of career retention.

Career Support

The interview points out that adult educator career support is weak. The Mozambican Public Education Sector has little support of these professionals. The only support is the pedagogical supervision. Moreover, the coordination between the Pedagogical Influence Zones, the schools, and the adult educator centers is deficient. We found that the fund of Direct Support to Schools do not benefit adult educators work conditions. To illustrate, the statements of the interviewees show:

The support we receive is poor. It does not support our careers but guides us to work in a calm environment (P2).

We receive support from the educational services to evaluate adult educator work. We also receive support in textbooks for the first year and third year. We receive the educator's books, but the pupil does not have. It is the only support (P14).

Financial Incentives

The career management practices have been identified as one of the most important tools to create career incentive packages. Such incentives ensure employee stability, concerning to job retention. Career incentives can be assessed as financial or subjective. The financial consist in the payment of allowances. While the subjective is associated with the recognition of work through awards and certificates of honor. In the context of this research, adult educators reveal that they do not receive career incentives. The HRM of the Mozambican Public Education Sector has not defined incentives for these professionals. In addition, few mechanisms are implemented to enhance the satisfaction of adult educators' careers.

I have not professional incentives. My career has no such privileges. I have never received an award or support during my career (P3).

There is no professional incentive. There is no financial support. Even though there is Direct Support to Schools. The literacy centers do not receive this financial support. The Government gives support to schools, but not to literacy centers that are devalued (P18).

Career Satisfaction

The preliminary analysis of the findings confirms the results observed in many studies of empirical research. To illustrate ^{See et al (2020)} refers that adult educator is dissatisfied because of poor career development opportunities, less trainings, and low rewards. This leads to absenteeism in their career. The results show that the Herzberg's theory factors are not yet appropriated related to a person's job satisfaction in terms of career advancement, possibility of growth, recognition, and achievement.

However, adult educators feel insecure and instable at work because of the scarce opportunities for career development (^{Alves et al., 2014}). The dynamic nature of careers requires organizations to move away from traditional practices to flexible strategies, to promote professional development (^{Bagdadli & Gianecchini, 2019}). The flexibility in procedures is one of the strategies that serve to enhance the career growth of employees.

Following the insights of our study, we found some dysfunctions in HRM strategies in the Public Education Sector. However, some research observes the lack of opportunities for advancement in the career of adult educators (^{Kachhawa, et al., 2018}). For instance, the career development of adult educators in Mozambique follows a rigid and complex structure. There is a lack of public funds to support the career promotion of these professionals. Furthermore, they do have not the right to career advancement because are considered voluntary servers.

The second category of career satisfaction concerns the training of adult educators. Most of these training is about the Teaching and Learning Process, apart from careers development. The ^{MINEDH (2020)} recognizes the weaknesses related to the training of human resources in the Mozambican Public Education Sector, in particular the adult educators. This is due to the lack of material and financial conditions to strengthen the education servers.

The third category was noted in career satisfaction regarding rewards of adult educators. Our study found that the remunerations are low. It corresponds to 10 USD per month, which causes career dissatisfaction. Indeed, career rewards are crucial to promoting career satisfaction. Rewards positively influence employee performance and motivation. They have a significant impact on organizational commitment (^{Shah et al., 2012}). The low rewards of adult educators have been found as the cause of turnover. One of the constraints refers to the deterioration of the Mozambican Public Education Sector in terms of adult educator's career development. These professionals work under precarious conditions, becoming victims of work stress (^{Abacar, et al., 2020}; ^{Zoller & Bacskai, 2020}).

Career Satisfaction as a Retention Factor

The findings of this study show that adult educators are dissatisfied. Therefore, the retention of these professionals is low, and it is a challenge for HRM in the Public Education Sector. For this reason, we found career support and career incentives as factors of adult educators' retention. Furthermore, this study explains how the career satisfaction enhance the retention of adult educators.

First, the career support was found as a crucial factor to promote the adult educator's career satisfaction. The results of ^{Han and Yin (2016)} confirms that job satisfaction is positively related to employee retention. For instance, ^{Hurst and Good (2009, p. 155)} affirm that "[…] Supervisory support (e.g. appreciation, consideration and feedback) plays a vital role in reducing stress, increasing job satisfaction, and enhancing employee recruitment and retention.".

Based on view above, the career support is a HRM strategy which provides opportunities for employee career advancement (^{Duan, et al., 2018}). Even though, the satisfaction of adult educators increases when school administration supports the careers, ensuring the school's effectiveness (^{Long et al. 2012}). Similar research points out that administrative support is an important tool to meet employees' expectations and increase productivity at work (^{Borman & Dowling, 2008}). Under HRM strategies, the career support often receives attention as a critical factor for career satisfaction. In Mozambican context, the adult educators do not receive necessary support in their work, because they are hired in the uncertain job modality, as volunteers and with precarious work contract (^{Simione, 2019}). They are considered as seasonal employees.

The second category of adult educators' retention refers to career incentives. The findings of this study indicate that financial or subjective incentives are essential to ensure employee retention. As outlined by ^{Shen (1997)} the adult educators tend to turnover. This happens because of low rewards and a lack of career incentives. The adult educator's retention depends on the dynamic nature of HRM in the Public Education Sector, concerning the career reward as strategy to satisfy adult educator (^{Bennell & Akyeampong, 2007}).

However, Mozambican adult educators have a contrary view. They consider that HRM in Public Education Sector faces serious problems. For instance, the recruitment process of these professionals is insecure and inappropriate. The work contract is seasonal with 10 months duration. There is not a chance to career development. Under these circumstances, the adult educator develops a capacity to adapt their work to organizational difficulties, having self-confidence and being willing to take risks. As observed by ^{Luís (2012)}, the adult educator career is affected by job insecurity, dissatisfaction, and turnover. Due to these factors ^{Nugroho and Karamperidou (2021)} argues the increase in absenteeism of adult educators in the Mozambican context. The main concern is related to job dissatisfaction. ^{MINEDH (2020)} acknowledges that the Mozambican Public Education Sector faces chronic finance difficulties, reducing the conditions to satisfy the adult educator careers.

Limitations

We acknowledge that our study carries some limitations. First, the participants of this research work in urban area. We believe that adult educators working in rural environment have more constraints to be explored. Second, the study was conducted in a pandemic environment of Covid-19, which impacted an enormous effort to collect the data. We spent much time to convince the participants, explaining continuously the pertinence of the paper. Third, by the nature of qualitative research, we avoid running the risk of generalizing the conclusions obtained in this study to other countries. But we can replicate for Mozambican context, according to the beliefs of the participants.

Theoretical Implications

This study adds insights for the existing theoretical framework with specific approaches of career satisfaction and retention of adult educators. Our results indicate the importance of career development, trainings, and career rewards, increasing value to the literature and providing a deep understanding of HRM strategies. We suggest that future research could replicate this study in different settings. Such study could follow quantitative methods, testing the relationships between career satisfaction and retention of adult educators, to obtain demonstrable results. These implications can show that there is still much to be investigated to enrich career satisfaction as a retention factor for adult educator in different HRM contexts.

Practical implications

This paper brought some insights for showing the main problems of career satisfaction and retention of adult educators. Due to the nature of adult educator career, we propose innovative, resilient, and adaptable strategies for enhance the employees. In this case, the organizations must provide the security, stability, innovation, and good work to enable the adult career expectancy. It is important to promote the multilevel selection process, involving the top management to define the criteria of adult educator career in educational context. We encourage future researchers to examine the main factors of adult educator career retention. We believe that some hypotheses in a longitudinal study can provide inputs to improve the HRM. This would help the Education Sector to recognize the adult educator career as employees, promoting the organizational trust of the work and self-esteem.