Management Perception of Performance Contracting in the University of Nairobi

Abstract

Performance contracting has been touted as a key agent of change and is now being used as one of the public sector reforms to improve service delivery in state corporations and ministries in Kenya. However it has been observed that performance contracting is faced with huge resistance from employees in Kenya. This study seeks to determine managements’ perception of performance contracting and the factors influencing these perceptions at the University of Nairobi. Perceptions are measured at three levels: Usefulness of performance contracting to the university, Usefulness of performance contracting to staff and Appropriateness of Performance contracting processes. Hypothesized factors affecting perception of performance contracting are grouped into three: Employer support, Performance contracting processes and Interpersonal relations. A fourth factor which was also tested was personal traits. The paper adopted a descriptive research design and carried out a census. The respondents were members of college management boards, SWA management board and senior officers at the central administration. Data was collected using a semi-structured questionnaire and analyzed using SPSS. The main tools of analysis included: frequencies, mean, standard deviation and correlation analysis. Presentation was done using tables and charts. The results revealed statistically significant correlations between perceptions on usefulness of performance contracting to the university with: employer support and interpersonal relations. Also, significant correlations were found between Perceptions of usefulness of performance contracting to staff with: employer support; performance contracting process; and Interpersonal relations. Perception on the process of performance contracting had the greatest and the only significant relation with the performance contracting process factor. Correlation analysis revealed that impact of respondents’ profiles on the relationship between management perception of performance contracting and factors affecting this perception are not significant.