DETERMINANTS OF PROVISION OF QUALITY SERVICES IN COUNTY GOVERNMENTS IN KENYA: A CASE OF NAIROBI COUNTY
Abstract
The work performance of public sector workers in Kenya has been a major concern to the Kenyan government, stakeholders, civil society, development partners and the people of Kenya. The performance evaluation results for the years 2013/2014 and 2010/2011 reveals that the counties and ministries performed poorly under the provision of quality service indicators. The study was built upon the Theory of work adjustment, Equity theory, Goal setting theory, Resource based theory and attribute service quality model. The specific objectives of the study were to establish the influence of human resource capacity, technology, rewards and employee attitude on provision of quality services in county governments specifically in Nairobi County. The study adopted descriptive survey for the target population of 850 employees of Nairobi County. A sample size of 85 respondents and a stratified sampling technique was used and data collected through the use of questionnaires. Secondary data was obtained from published documents such as journals, periodicals, magazines and reports to supplement the primary data. A pilot study was conducted to pretest the validity and reliability of instruments for data collection. The quantitative method of data analysis was employed to analyze data with help of SPSS version 21 and Excel. The study adopted correlation and regression analysis at 5% level of significance. The analysis showed that reward had the strongest positive (Pearson correlation coefficient =.876; p-value= .007< .05) influence on provision of quality services. In addition, human resource capacity, technology and employee attitude were positively correlated to provision of quality services (Pearson correlation coefficient =.752, .721 and .805; p- value= .024<.05; .028<.05; .021< .05) respectively. The study established that the Nairobi County did not have adequate teams to ensure that there was efficiency of the provision of quality services in the County; the respondents cited that the team was not engaged on planning and implementation; the qualified and trained team was not included in implementation. The users were not well trained to handle machinery. There was lack of computers for the staff and lack of soft wares for the use by the staff .The employees did not have a session for awards and the county did not provide leave programs long enough to allow full recovery. The study recommends that the County needs to have well trained adequate team engaged in planning and implementation of programmes geared towards provision of quality services.
Key Words: Quality Services, County Governments, HR Capacity, Technology, Rewards, Employee Attitude
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DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.61426/sjbcm.v3i2.234
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