Quality of Work Life Approaches and Employee Performance in Kenyan Public Universities

Abstract

Public universities in Kenya have been facing declining employee performance, illustrated by their drop in global ranking. For instance, the best-ranked university in Kenya dropped 20 places in 2023. The problem is compounded by an increased workload reflected in a low staff-to-student ratio of 1:30 against the recommended maximum of 1:10. The foregoing partly informed this study, which sought to determine the link between the quality of work-life approaches and employee performance in public universities in Kenya. The specific objectives were to examine the nexus between flexible work arrangements, health and wellness programmes, workload management, technology adoption, and employee performance. The study also evaluated the moderating effect of governance on the relationship between quality of work-life approaches and employee performance. Atkinson’s flexible firm model, Roscoe’s model, work-life spillover theory, the technology adoption model, stakeholder theory, and Theory X and Theory Y anchored the study. A mix of cross-sectional survey and ex post facto designs was adopted. In addition to adopting a positivist philosophy, the study also adopted quantitative research methods as well as a deductive approach. The accessible population constituted the staff of 8 chartered public universities. A stratified random sampling technique was used to draw 385 sampled staff from 16,933 employees working with the aforementioned universities, constituting the accessible population. The sampled faculty and non-faculty respondents were 135 and 250, respectively. A semi-structured questionnaire was used in data collection. A pilot study was conducted at Laikipia University to determine the validity and reliability of the research questionnaire. The data analysis was aided by the Statistical Package for Social Sciences. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyse data. Pertinent diagnostic tests were done before conducting inferential statistical analysis. The study findings indicated that flexible work arrangements (β1 = 0.425; t = 28.413; p < 0.05), health and wellness programmes (β2 = 0.403; t = 20.702; p < 0.05), workload management (β3 = 0.527; t = 23.979; p < 0.05), and technology adoption (β4 = 0.307; t = 23.724; p < 0.05) individually significantly influenced employee performance. When jointly regressed against employee performance, except technology adoption (p = 0.392 > 0.05), other work-life approaches, that is, flexible work arrangements (p = 0.004 < 0.05), health and wellness programmes (p = 0.003 < 0.05), and workload management (p = 0.000 < 0.05) had a statistically significant influence on employee performance. The moderating effect of corporate governance on the relationship between the quality of work-life approaches and employee performance was also found to be statistically significant (Sig. F Change = 0.000 < 0.05). It was concluded that the four quality of work-life approaches individually and jointly significantly affect the performance of employees in Kenya’s public universities. It is recommended that universities should recruit additional staff to ease the workload of the current employees. All universities should have a policy that requires them to have holistic mentorship programmes. Universities should have a policy to guide how technology can be integrated into the work environment by the staff. The heads of departments are recommended to assist staff in managing their workload.