Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs and Turnover Intentions among Faculty of Public Campuses of Madhesh Province of Nepal

Faculty turnover severely compromises institutional sustainability and quality educational aspirations in Nepal's socio-culturally diverse landscape. Situated within a prominent public campus in Sarlahi, Madhesh Province, this inquiry examines the multi-layered socio-political, financial, and structural push factors driving faculty turnover intentions through the interpretive lens of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. Grounded in an interpretivist paradigm and existential phenomenological design, qualitative data were gathered through seven semi-structured in-depth interviews and four stratified focus group discussions across distinct contractual tiers. Through manual thematic analysis mapped onto Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, findings reveal that faculty attrition is an active behavioral flight to preserve professional dignity against systemic labor precarity. Chronically unmet physiological and safety needs manifest through calendar-driven piece-rate exploitation, unlivable wages, and prolonged contract stagnation under non-standard designations. At higher-order levels, belongingness, esteem, and self-actualization are systematically starved by rent-seeking administrative subcultures, partisan syndicates, and institutional bullying that enforces silent spectatorship. This systemic procedural injustice occurs primarily because local campus governance is captured by political elites (Bhagbanda) who prioritize patronage over meritocratic academic administration. When reform-minded educators attempt to advance University Grants Commission Quality Assurance and Accreditation indicators or Sustainable Development Goal 4 (SDG 4.c) targets, partisan vetoes induce intellectual asphyxiation (Kshamatako Daman). Consequently, turnover emerges not merely as economic migration, but as an existential rejection of procedural injustice and institutional decay. This study provides a comprehensive policy framework emphasizing macro-level regulatory intervention by the University Grants Commission, contractual standardization, and institutional depoliticization to restore academic dignity and retain faculty in peripheral higher education institutions.