EFFECT OF WORK SPACE FLEXIBILITY ON PERFORMANCE OF ADMINISTRATIVE STAFF IN PUBLIC UNIVERSITIES IN WESTERN KENYA
Abstract
Public Universities in Kenya are striving to maximize human capital as one of the factors of production in order to achieve its goal. In relation to this, the International labor organizations global report on flexible work arrangement of 2010 rates Kenya among those with the highest prevalence of long working hours per week. Public Universities in Kenya faces challenges with implementation of flexible work arrangements programs. Universities are limiting flexible work arrangement and this has affected performance of administrative staffs in supporting the teaching staffs and students. The Public Universities in Western Kenya have had their administrative staff participate in industrial action citing being over-worked after some staff exited services either because of retirement, resignation, death or being laid off, reducing the size of human capital. The purpose of the study was to determine the influence of work space flexibility on performance. This was achieved by the study’s objective: To establish the effect of work space flexibility on performance of administrative staff in Public Universities in western Kenya. The research hypothesis was: H01: Work space flexibility does not have a significant effect on performance of administrative staff in Public Universities in western Kenya. The study was guided by socio-technical systems theory. A correlational research design was adopted for the study. A population of 140 respondents from across the Public Universities participated using census sampling. Reliability achieved at Cronbach alpha value above0.7. Content validity of the instrument was achieved through literature review. Both descriptive and inferential statistics were used in data analysis. The findings revealed that flexible working was less practiced and hence a negative and significant effect on performance. It was concluded that flexible work has a negative effect on performance. It was recommended that universities adopt better flexible working arrangements that can enhance performance. It is expected that the findings will aid the decisions of Management of Universities, the Government and future researchers by shaping the decisions regarding work design.
Key Words: Work Space, Flexibility, Performance, Working Hours, Administrative, Staff
CITATION: Nyaoro, B. O., & Anyango, C. B. (2023). Effect of work space flexibility on performance of administrative staff in public universities in western Kenya. The Strategic Journal of Business & Change Management, 10 (1), 179 – 189.
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DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.61426/sjbcm.v10i1.2522
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