Strategic Capabilities and Performance of Selected Chartered Private Universities in Nairobi City County, Kenya
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Date
2023-11
Authors
Avedi, Hannington Kigame
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Kenyatta University
Abstract
Private higher university education plays a critical role in the development of human capital globally. Despite the growing need for human capital development by private universities in Kenya, the performance of private universities in Kenya has dropped between 2019/20 and 2020/21 sessions. Kenya reported the enrollment of 94.6 thousand students at private universities for the 2020/21 academic years. It dropped from 96.6 thousand recorded in 2019/20, the greatest number since 2013/14. The fall in the enrollment rate has been linked to poor infrastructural facilities such as research labs, libraries, misuse of resources, among others which has led to low ranking of the universities on the African continent and the world at large. The general objective was to ascertain the effect of strategic capabilities on the performance of private universities in Nairobi City County, Kenya. The specific objectives were to determining the specific effect of strategic capabilities, managerial, technology, marketing as well as research and development capabilities were evaluated on private universities performance in Nairobi city county, Kenya. The theoretical explanations of the variables in the study were based on the resource dependence, market-based view, capability-based view theories and balanced score card model. The study research design was descriptive research design. The study targeted six (6) private universities that were fully licensed and operative in Nairobi city county, Kenya. The respondents consisted of 125 employees working under planning and development/finance, administration services, deans and directors. Descriptive analysis involved use of mean, frequencies and standard deviation while inferential analysis involved use of regression and correlation statistics. Data was presented in tables and figures. The findings show that managerial capabilities had a positive and significant effect on performance of private universities in Nairobi City County, Kenya (β1=1.078, sig<0.05). The results show that a unit change in technological capabilities resulted to positive units changes in organization performance in private universities in Kenya (β2=0.732, sig<0.05). The study concluded that technological capabilities had a positive and significant effect on performance of private universities in Kenya. A unit change in marketing capabilities resulted to positive units changes in performance of private universities in Kenya. The effect of marketing capabilities was the highest on performance of private universities in Nairobi City County, Kenya compared to other indicators used in the study (β3 =1.302, sig<0.05). The study concluded that marketing capabilities have a positive and significant effect on performance of private universities in Kenya. The changes in research and development had no significant effect on performance of public universities at 5% significance level (sig>0.05). The study concluded that R&D activities had insignificant effect on organizational performance. Based on the findings, The study recommends the senior management in the private universities to take a care role in ensuring team work, coordination of activities and effective communication. In order to improve knowledge, it was advised that private institutions concentrate more on technology advancement in the key areas of operation such as administration, teaching, planning, R&D, marketing and examination administration. It was suggested that private universities should adjust their brand position in the market to stand out from the competition and stay abreast of customer demands and requirements in order to increase performance.
Description
A Research Project Submitted to the School of Business, Economics and Tourism in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirement for the Award of the Degree of Master of Business Administration (Strategic Management Option) of Kenyatta University, November 2023.
Keywords
Strategic Capabilities and Performance, Chartered Private Universities, Nairobi City County, Kenya