Job Training and Performance of County Administrators at the County Government of Nyeri, Kenya

Abstract

County governments in Kenya continue to invest heavily on training of staff using various forms such as induction, benchmarking tours and workshops without corresponding mechanism of evaluating the effect of the skills acquired from the trainings on actual job performance of the employees. Review studies shows there exist a gap in existing literature on the specific skills from trainings that affect job performance even as numerous studies continue to report positive correlation between training and employee performance. This research examined the impact of job training on the performance of administrators in the Nyeri County Government. The objectives of the study was to examine the effects of skills training on the job performance of administrators in the county government of Nyeri; technological skills, administrative skills, change of attitude and ethical conduct. The study was anchored on human capital theory which explained how variables affected job performance. The target population of the study was the 269 employees designated as administrators in the county government of Nyeri. Stratified samplings and simple random sampling was used to arrive at 73 respondents. The actual administrators to participate in the study was selected using stratified random sampling with areas of administrators’ placement being used as strata and staff list being used to enable random sampling. Using questionnaires and interview schedules, data was obtained. To administer the questionnaires, the drop and pick approach was used while the researcher arranged for interviews with key informants chosen using purposeful sampling. Using expert opinions, the validity of the testing instruments was assessed, while the Cronbach Alpha Co-efficient approach was used to assess the reliability of the tools after pilot test and the Alpha value for all constructs were above 0.7. The results indicated that the instruments were reliable since all constructs had an Alpha value of more than 0.7. Data was analyzed using both descriptive and inferential analysis. Multiple regression analysis techniques ascertained the exact direction and strength of influence of various skills acquired in training on job performance of administrators. The respondents indicated professional and academic qualification before employment was considered most by the county government, indicates that achieving targets set by the county government was highly effective. The study found that to a great extent the administrators had skills in conducting public participation. The survey results presented that to a great extent training had equipped administrators to effectively manage projects being implemented by the county government. The data was presented through the tables and graphs. The study found out that technical skills, attitude change, managerial competence and ethical conduct had a positive and significant effect on performance of administrators. The study recommended that the training systems in the County should enable all administrators to develop skills and knowledge through socializing with experienced employees and avoid unethical conduct. The study recommended that county directors should ensure that employee’s technical skills matches the tasks being handled. The study recommended that the directors in various departments within the counties should encourage behavior change, competence managers, ethical conduct skills and improved technical skills as they positively affect job performance.