EFFECT OF HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT PRACTICES ON PERFORMANCE OF PUBLIC UNIVERSITIES IN KENYA

Abstract

Public universities are labour intensive institutions which depend on people for effective service delivery. This study sought to establish the relationship between strategic human resources management practices and performance of public universities in Kenya. The study was guided by the following specific objectives: To establish the effect of resourcing practices on performance of public universities; to determine the effect of reward management on performance of public universities; to assess the effect of training and development on performance of public universities and to determine the combined effect of resourcing practices, reward management and training and development on performance of public universities in Kenya. The study was a census with a target population of the public universities in Kenya and their constituent colleges. Senior HR officers and administrators were the units of analysis where a response rate of 58% was obtained. Data was collected using semi-structured questionnaire and was subsequently analyzed using SPSS. Research findings suggested that strategic human resource management practices have a significant effect on the performance of public universities in Kenya. Further, findings revealed that reward management, training and development and resourcing practices respectively influenced the performance of public universities. Based on the findings following key recommendations were made: Management of public universities to develop employment policy that encourages job security; invest in HR information systems to automate resourcing practices; government to ensure that selection in public universities is based on equal employment opportunity principle, management to conduct a staff competency analysis in order to address training and development needs.