Effects of Selection Practices on Employee Performance in Public Universities in Kenya

In order for any organization to build and sustain competitive advantage, proper selection practices is critical. When selection practices are done well they ensure that, employees are capable of high productivity, motivated to stay with the organization, able to engage in behavior that result in customer satisfaction and are capable of implementing the strategy of the organization. Poor selection practices may lead to managers selecting wrong applicants for the job as poor employee selection decisions are regularly made. Employees may not perform well in some way due to management problems, poor work attitude or interpersonal problems which lead to poor performance of duties. Coping strategies adopted by corporate organizations in response to environmental changes need also to apply to public universities in Kenya, as higher education world over is undergoing rapid transformation in the face of changing dynamics. The study was guided by the following two research objectives to establish the effect of selection methods, and competencies of managers involved in the selection process on employee performance in public universities in Kenya. The study used descriptive and survey research design. The target population was 88 Heads of Human Resources Department and HR officers from the 22 public universities in Kenya in which a census was conducted of all the 88 respondents. Primary data was collected by means of questionnaires, and secondary was collected from existing literature related to the study. The quantitative data collected was analyzed using descriptive statistics which includes, mean, standard deviation, percentages, and frequencies. While inferential statistics such as correlation and regression using SPSS 21 was used to describe the relationships between the variables. Quantitative data analyzed was presented using tables and charts. And qualitative data was analyzed using content analysis. From the findings the study established that both the independent variables selection methods and competencies of managers involved in the selection process had strong positive correlation with the dependent variable employee performance and statistically significant at level 0.01. On the regression summary the Adjusted R2 is 0.721 which shows that employee performance was affected by selection methods and competencies of managers involved in the selection process. This indicated that there was a variation of 72.1 % on employee performance with selection methods and competencies of managers involved in the selection process. The remaining 27.9 % indicates that there are other factors which affected employee performance in public universities in Kenya which were not studied in the current study. According to findings holding all the independent variables selection methods and competencies of managers involved in the selection process constant at zero the employee performance would be -5.384. Also the findings indicates that, taking all other independent variables to zero, a unit increase of selection methods led to 1.454 increases in employee performance. A unit increase of competencies of managers involved in the selection process led to 0.789 increases in employee performance. Therefore selection methods have the highest contribution of employee performance in public universities in Kenya. The study recommends that a range of selection methods, that are suitable for assessing both the essential and desirable criteria in the person specification be incorporated as this will enhance objective decision making which is difficult through interview alone. In addition Head of Departments who participate in the selection process of employees in public universities who are not human resource professionals be oriented on employee resourcing and selection practices. Human Resource Policies should be dynamic in line with the current market changes.