EFFECT OF STAFF ON THE PERFORMANCE OF PUBLIC UNIVERSITIES: A CASE OF NORTH RIFT REGION, KENYA
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Date
2020
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Journal of Education and Practice
Abstract
Purpose: The purpose of the study was to investigate the effect of staff on the performance of
public universities in north rift region, Kenya.
Methodology: The author in this paper adopts a cross sectional survey research design to achieve
the study objective. Taking into consideration a population of three hundred teaching and
nonteaching staff from public universities headquartered in the North Rift region, a sample size of
170 respondents from the target population was selected. The study sample was obtained through
stratified proportionate sampling technique. Data collection was done by use of questionnaires.
Data was analyzed by descriptive and inferential statistics presented in form of frequency, mean
and standard deviation, and correlation and multiple regressions respectively.
Findings: it was found out that Staff perspective had a significantly positive effect on performance
of public universities in North Rift region Kenya. This positive impact was attributed to the
compensation plan used by the universities to boosts morale of staff which in turn improves their
performance. Notably the study demonstrated a low rate of resignation among university staff
implying high staff commitment. It was also clear that human resource practices positively affect
strategy implementation with majority of the respondents agreeing that rewarding is based on
merit. The overall mean effect of staff on performance was 74.4%. Correlation results revealed a
statistically significant and positive relationship with performance of the universities (R2=0.339,
p<0.000). Staff was therefore a good predictor of performance of public universities as supported
by an F statistic of 11.944 and the reported p value (0.000) which was less than the conventional
probability of 0.05 Nonetheless, the regression results confirmed that there was a significant
relationship between staff and performance of public universities in North Rift Kenya with a beta
coefficient of 0.246 and significance of (p=0.002). The study thus failed to reject the hypothesis
that stated: there is a significant relationship between staff and performance of public universities
in North Rift Kenya.
Unique contribution to theory, practice and policy: Public universities should practice the culture
of providing feedback to the employees on their performance. The university management ought
to develop strategies that are fully aligned to the human resource professionalism the government
should appraise the universities on the extent of their strategic plan’s implementations. This is to
encourage universities to transform their plans into action by showing evidence of what has been
achieved in the time period that was proposed. Further research can be done to establish other
factors that contribute to strategy implementation and performance in universities. In addition,
more research should also be carried out to investigate the effect of the external environment on
the implementation of strategic plans in public universities or other organizations.