ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE: AN IMPERATIVE FOR EMPLOYEE SATISFACTION IN PRIVATE UNIVERSITIES IN NORTH-CENTRAL NIGERIAGERIA

This research empirically examines the impact of organisational environmental change on employee job satisfaction within private universities in North-Central Nigeria. Specifically, it explores the impact of regulatory changes, market competition, and funding pressures on employee satisfaction. Adopting a descriptive survey research approach, responses were collected from 528 participants drawn from seven private universities using a structured questionnaire. The data were analysed through multiple regression analysis to ascertain the relationship between employee satisfaction and organisational change. The findings reveal that regulatory change significantly contributes positively to employee satisfaction (0.4000, 0.0145), implying that effective management of regulatory policies enhances job security and workplace stability. Market competition also significantly and positively affects satisfaction (0.4961, 0.0033), indicating that increased competitive pressures compel universities to improve employee welfare, thereby leading to greater satisfaction. Financial pressures negatively and significantly impact employee satisfaction (0.2759, 0.0118), suggesting that financial demands result in uncertainty, delayed salaries, and decreased job morale. These results support organisational justice theory by highlighting the importance of procedural, distributive, and interactional justice in organisational change management. The following recommendations are proposed for private universities based on these results: sustaining transparency in regulatory changes, maintaining competitive and fair reward systems, and involving employees in financial decision-making to enhance job satisfaction despite environmental pressures.