The purpose of this study was to establish determinants of academic staff retention in Kenyan public universities. Universities in Kenya are operating in a highly competitive environment and one of the challenges they face is employee retention. This has been occasioned by globalisation which has intensified competition and increased the mobility of highly skilled employees yet the universities depend on these staff for success and sustainability. Specifically, the objectives of the study were to establish whether the extrinsic factors (leadership style, remuneration) and intrinsic factors (training, promotion) influenced retention of academic staff, and the moderating effect of personal characteristics (age and education level) on academic staff retention.