STRATEGIC DIRECTION AND PERFORMANCE OF UNIVERSITIES IN KENYA
Keywords:
Strategic Direction, Performance of Universities, Upper Echelon Leadership TheoryAbstract
Universities in Kenya today are operating in a highly turbulent and dynamic environment as a result of liberalization of the higher education industry, resulting in an influx of many players. To deal with the changes and high levels of competition, it requires Kenyan universities to have effective strategic leadership practices to enhance performance for their universities, especially when Kenya integrates into the regional and global markets. The general objective of this study was to determine the relationship between strategic direction and performance of universities in Kenya. The study was based on positivist philosophy of science which sought to verify the propositions through empirical test by measuring the relationships between the dependent and independent variables. The study used descriptive research design. The target population for this study were all the 64 chartered universities in Kenya. A structured questionnaire was used for primary data collection. The questionnaire was pilot tested to determine its validity and reliability. The study used both primary data and secondary data. Primary data was gathered from top management, university councils and workers’ representatives of the universities under study. Secondary data was collected from journals, books, internet searches and articles through secondary data collection sheet. Data collected was organized in spreadsheets for the purpose of analysis, it was coded and entered into Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS, Version 29.0) for analysis. Descriptive statistics such as mean and standard deviation was used to analyze the data. Correlation and regression analysis was conducted to find the relationship between the independent and dependent variables. Data was presented on tables and graphs. The pilot study comprised of ten percent (10%) of equivalent of study respondents amounting to 27 respondents. The overall Cronbach Alpha value for reliability was 0.858. The validity of the questionnaire was tested using construct validity. The study concludes that strategic direction is a crucial factor in establishing, motivating and rewarding achievement of general goals and specific objectives of the universities in Kenya. From the results, mission statement, vision statement and target/goal setting are essential aspects of strategic direction which affect the performance of the universities in Kenya. This study therefore recommends that the management of performance of universities should adopt strategic direction to help them set overall objective and make proper planning on how to achieve the set goals, evade disruption, organize business operations, solve diverse problem facing the organization by concentrating on the best possible solution and also maximize resources.
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