Factors Influencing Employee Performance In The Kenyan Public Sector

Abstract

The Employee is the blood stream of any organization. The accomplishment or failure of the organization depends on its employee performance. There have been numerous complaints, accusations and validated cases of Kenyan Public employees displaying poor performance in terms of corruption, poor quality of service, delay in expected output deliverables, poor cost effectiveness among others. While there have been a variety of studies concerning public employee motivation and productivity, few, if any, studies have focused specifically on factors influencing employee performance in the Kenyan Public sector. Is it poor recruitment, poor training, poor reward or poor management? With close to three quarter of a million workers employed by the Kenyan government, any improvement in state workplace productivity could have significant financial and service impact for the Kenyan society. The aim of this study was to assess the factors influencing employee performance in the Public Sector: A case of The Kenya National Highways Authority (KeNHA). The study was guided by the following objectives; to assess how recruitment and selection influence employee performance in KeNHA; to establish the influence of training and development on employee performance in KeNHA; to establish the influence of reward management on employee performance in KeNHA; to explore the influence of management on employee performance in KeNHA. The study adopted descriptive survey design which was used to obtain information through describing the existing phenomenon. The study population was 530 KeNHA employees from which a target population of 159 KeNHA headquarter employees were chosen. The estimated sample size was 108. Stratified random sampling was used in the study with departments forming relevant strata. Content validity was provided by the researcher sharing the research instrument with the supervisors. Split- half method was employed to test the reliability of the instrument. A structured questionnaire was prepared and administered to all the purposively sampled respondents. The questionnaire was collected after three days. 108 respondents participated in the study and only 103 questionnaires were correctly filled and used for analysis. The data collected was checked for completeness and analysed using descriptive statistics. Results for quantitative data are presented in tables and factual statements. It is believed that the findings from the sample will be a representative of the situation in the Public Sector to a reliable degree. Data was analyzed using SPSS software, Microsoft excel as well as manual methods and presented in form of tables, mean, percentage and factual statements. The study findings indicate the critical factors influencing employee performance in public sector include; recruitment that is slow, less transparent, and interfered by external influence; poor training especially job rotation; and lack of performance rewards and incentives. The study recommends introduction of performance related pay system and stringent recruitment controls. Further studies are proposed on factors influencing employee performance on other government bodies other than roads and also a study on factors influencing corruption in the public sector.