The Influence of Balanced Scorecard Performance Management System on Employee Job Satisfaction at National Hospital Insurance Fund, Kenya

Abstract

Balanced Scorecard is a management system that is intended to improve efficiency and effectiveness of the delivery of organization‟s output. In the balanced scorecard approach, employees are the target and medium of change. This means that the system must inculcate appropriate work attitudes and behaviors in the employees who are, in turn, expected to drive the process to its logical end. Yet to the knowledge of the researcher, no study has been done to establish whether balanced scorecard influences employees‟ behaviors and attitudes such as job satisfaction. The objective of this study was, therefore, to determine the influence of balanced scorecard system on employees‟ job satisfaction at the National Hospital Insurance Fund, Kenya. The study was conducted through a descriptive survey. The population of the study consisted of 2880 the staff at NHIF, Kenya. A sample of 288 was selected but only 133 employees filled and returned the questionnaires, which translated to 46.2% response rate. Data analysis involved use of descriptive statistics such as frequency distributions, means, standard deviations and percentages. Regression analysis was used to test for the influence of balanced scorecard on job satisfaction. The study found that the respondents had a positive and clear understanding of what the balanced scorecard sought to achieve. They felt that the Fund‟s past performance rating awards were not satisfactory and that the balanced scorecard was better than the traditional forms of Measurement. The study also found that learning and growth perspective, business process perspective, customer perspective, financial perspective influenced employees‟ job satisfaction at the National Hospital Insurance Fund, Kenya ((R2= 0.639, F=6.01, P<.01). It is concluded that the framework used for the study exhibited moderate explanatory power and therefore the findings can be relied upon by the NHIF management