Effect of Human Resource Planning Practices on Organizational Performance in Public Universities in Western Kenya

The universities are citadels of knowledge, research and academic excellence. The continuing role of universities in the provision of transformational experience for individuals and the global community cannot be under estimated. However, in the current climate and with substantial increase in technological advancement, higher education has witnessed increased cases of lack of honest appraisal of the problems facing universities. This study sought to assess the effect of human resource planning on the performance of public universities in western Kenya region . The specific objectives of the study were to; examine the effect of recruitment and selection on the performance of public universities and to determine the effect of outsourcing on the performance of public universities in western Kenya region. The study adopted analytical cross-sectional and survey research design. The target population was 2,822 employees and a sample size of 341 was drawn from a total population of 2,822 employees to represent the whole population using Krejcie and Morgan Table 1970. The researcher selected the six public universities in western region purposively. The public universities represented clusters from which simple random sampling was used to sample non-academic staff. Simple random sample was taken from the clusters in proportion to the cluster size in comparison to the population by use of proportional allocation. Data was collected by use of questionnaires. Data was analyzed using descriptive statistics of frequencies, percentages, mean, standard deviation and inferential statistics of correlation and multiple regression analysis using SPSS version 25.0. The null hypothesis was tested at 5% significance level. Result of multiple regressions revealed that human resource planning practices jointly and independently influenced organizational performance in public Universities in Western region. Jointly the two constructs namely outsourcing and recruitment and selection contributed 53.5% variation in performance of public universities (Adjusted R Square = 0.535). The β value for Outsourcing (.284) and recruitment and selection (.623) were all positive. All these together led to the rejection of the null hypothesis. The synergistic effect of the human resource planning practices under study cannot be gain said in achieving high performance of public universities. This implied that the management of public universities should pay high premiums in formulating and implementing human resource planning practices to galvanize performance of the public universities. Key words: human resource planning, organizational performance, outsourcing and recruitment and selection CITATION: Nondoh, R. A., Tsuma, E., Alala, B. O., Onyango, R. (2020). Effect of human resource planning practices on organizational performance in public Universities in Western Kenya. T he Strategic Journal of Business & Change Management , 7(2), 20 – 39.