School of Business and Economics

WORK-LIFE BALANCE PRACTICES, ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE AND EMPLOYEE COMMITMENT OF COUNTY ADMINISTRATORS IN WESTERN REGION KENYA

Sat, 01 Nov 2025 00:00:00 GMT

WORK-LIFE BALANCE PRACTICES, ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE AND EMPLOYEE COMMITMENT OF COUNTY ADMINISTRATORS IN WESTERN REGION KENYA Mwinami, Sande Jackson Work-life balance initiatives have been shown to positively impact employees' well-being and integration, with commitment emerging as a key factor for successful work-life integration. However, despite the presence of work-life balance practices, employee commitment remained a challenge for managers in the public sector. The role of organizational culture in moderating the relationship between work-life balance practices and employee commitment had not been fully explored. This study investigated the influence of work-life balance practices on employee commitment, with organizational culture as a moderating factor, among county administrators in the Western Region of Kenya. Specifically, the study examined the effects of flexible working arrangements, welfare programs, leave programs and remote working on employee commitment. Additionally, it assessed the moderating role of organizational culture in these relationships. Guided by Spillover Theory, Enrichment Theory, Segmentation Theory and Facilitation Theory, the study adopted both descriptive and correlational survey designs. Data were collected from county administrators in selected counties such as Kakamega, Vihiga, Busia and Bungoma using semi-structured questionnaires and interview guides. The study used census to collect data where the target population was 198.Pilot study was conducted in Trans Nzoia County. Validity was tested using construct and content validity while reliability was tested using Cronbach Alpa. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics (frequency, percentages, mean and standard deviations) and inferential statistics, with Pearson’s correlation coefficient. Simple linear, multiple regressions and hierarchical regression. The findings revealed that flexible working arrangements (B = 0.261, p=0.000), welfare programs (B = 0.655, p= 0.000), leave programs (B = 0.638, p=0.000), and remote working (B = 0.723, p=0.000) all had significant positive effects on employee commitment. However, when organizational culture was introduced as a moderating factor, none of these practices showed a statistically significant effect, indicating that organization culture did not moderate the relationship between work-life balance practices and employee commitment. These results suggested that work-life balance practices were key drivers of employee commitment, but enhancing organizational culture alone was not sufficient to improve this relationship. This finding is expected to benefit stakeholders, including county and national governments, researchers, and human resource professionals, by providing insights into strategies that could enhance employee commitment in the public sector. To improve commitment effectively, county administrations might need to look beyond these practices and consider other aspects of the organizational environment, such as leadership, communication, career development, or job security, which could have a more profound effect on fostering employee engagement and loyalty.

INTERNAL FACTORS AND FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE OF NAIROBI SECURITIES EXCHANGE-LISTED COMMERCIAL BANKS IN KENYA

Wed, 01 Oct 2025 00:00:00 GMT

INTERNAL FACTORS AND FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE OF NAIROBI SECURITIES EXCHANGE-LISTED COMMERCIAL BANKS IN KENYA ALETIA, EKIRU SYLVIA The banking sector in Kenya plays a vital role in providing financial services, which contributes to the economy's growth. Despite these contributions, commercial banks in Kenya have faced extreme challenges in the last few years, which have been attributed to the banks' financial instability. Due to this poor financial performance, the current study sought to determine the effect of internal factors on the financial performance of listed commercial banks at the Nairobi Security Exchange, Kenya. The study was based on following research objectives: determining the effect of bank size, capital adequacy, and operational efficiency on the financial performance of listed commercial banks at the Nairobi Security Exchange, Kenya. The study is anchored on efficiency theory and signaling theory respectively. A descriptive research design was employed. This study targeted all the banks quoted on the Nairobi Security Exchange. It relied on secondary data obtained from financial statements found on the websites of the relevant banks and the Central Bank of Kenya. Thus, the target population comprised all 11 commercial banks listed at the Nairobi security exchange. Due to a small target population, the study employed a census sampling technique where the sample size was the 11 commercial banks listed in the Nairobi security exchange. Secondary data was sourced from commercial bank statements and annual reports published in NSE between 2018 and 2022. The study presumed that data obtained from published annual audited reports provided quality data, which addressed the study's validity issue. To enhance reliability, a pilot study was carried out on two commercial banks that were not listed at the Nairobi security exchange. The data was analyzed using descriptive analysis, regression analysis, and correlation analysis, where the significance level was tested at 5%. The findings revealed that firm size had posted a moderate positive statistically significant effect on return on asset where the p-value was slightly > 0.05, capital adequacy had a strong and positive effect on return on asset, and its p-value was < 0.05, indicating a statistical significance. And lastly, operational efficiency indicated a positive and insignificant effect on the return on asset. Operational efficiency had a p-value > 0.05. In general, it was established that 86.84% of independent variables contributed to the financial performance of commercial banks listed at the NSE. The study recommends that banks should seek to increase their asset to boost their growth and maintain reasonable capital adequacy to absorb losses effectively. Lastly, banks should effectively manage and control operational costs and expenses, thus maximizing profits in the long run. The study recommends banks should seek to increase their assets, which will foster the bank's growth in size and thus enjoy economies of scale. The study also recommends that commercial banks and other financial institutions need to operate within their capital standards. Further it is recommended that commercial banks need to maintain reasonable capital adequacy to absorb losses effectively, which can emanate from economic shock. Lastly, the study recommends that financial institutions must manage and control the operation cost in order to be more efficient and maximize their profits.

EFFECT OF SELECTED MACROECONOMIC DETERMINANTS ON AGRICULTURAL EXPORT PERFORMANCE IN KENYA

Sat, 01 Jun 2024 00:00:00 GMT

EFFECT OF SELECTED MACROECONOMIC DETERMINANTS ON AGRICULTURAL EXPORT PERFORMANCE IN KENYA MUKHEBI, SILAS WESONGA Agricultural exports are key drivers of the Kenyan Economy. They contribute significantly to foreign exchange earnings, job creation, and economic growth. Kenya’s Vision 2030 highlighted agriculture as a crucial economic pillar that will spur its achievement. However, there has been reduced profitability and an increased uncertainty of producing for export leading to poor performance of Kenya’s agricultural exports. Even though there are a lot of studies on Kenya's agricultural industry, very few of these studies specifically address the country's agricultural exports. This study looked at the effect of capital formation, inflation, and currency exchange rates on the performance of agricultural exports. The general objective examined the effect of macroeconomic determinants on the performance of agricultural exports in Kenya. The study’s distinctive goals entailed: determining the effect of capital formation on the performance of agricultural exports in Kenya, establishing the effect of inflation on the performance of agricultural exports in Kenya, and investigating the effect of the currency exchange rate on the performance of agricultural exports in Kenya. This research was anchored on traditional trade theory. It used a causal research design to examine the relationship between variables, using annual secondary time series data from the World Bank. Data analysis was done using EVIEWS software version 10 for descriptive statistics, correlational, and multiple regression analysis. The results of a Correlation analysis revealed positive correlations between the agricultural export performance and capital formation (0.6631), and the Currency exchange rate (0.7853), but a negative relation for the case of inflation (-0.2959). ADF test revealed integrated levels at I(0) and I(1), and the F-Bounds tests showed the absence of a long-term relationship among variables. The outcome of a multiple regression analysis revealed that capital formation and currency exchange rate had significant positive effects on agricultural export performance while, inflation had a negative significant effect, with coefficients of 0.4848, 0.3983, and -0.2817, in that order at a 5% significance level. The data was normally distributed, the independent variables were not correlated, and the regression residuals were homoscedastic and not serially autocorrelated according to the post-estimation diagnostic tests. Drawing from the empirical findings, the study recommends implementing robust inflation management policies to stabilize prices and lessen the adverse effects of inflation on agricultural exports. Additionally, the government should introduce policies to ensure a competitive exchange rate. The study further suggests that additional research be conducted to assess the impact of macroeconomic factors, including Gross Domestic Product, Foreign Direct Investments, and Unemployment, on the performance of Kenya's agricultural exports.

IMPACT OF SELECTED MACROECONOMIC VARIABLES ON PUBLIC HEALTHCARE FINANCING IN KENYA

Wed, 01 Oct 2025 00:00:00 GMT

IMPACT OF SELECTED MACROECONOMIC VARIABLES ON PUBLIC HEALTHCARE FINANCING IN KENYA Lumbasi, Misiko David Healthcare financing is a critical aspect of ensuring access to quality healthcare services for individuals and populations worldwide. However, macroeconomic factors have posed challenges like eroding the real value of medical finances through inflation, low tax revenues collection and high public debt that attract high interest repayments that crowd out funds meant for social sectors like healthcare and thereby affecting sustainable financing of healthcare systems. This has resulted to inadequate and inconsistent healthcare funding, as well as wasteful use of existing resources leading to disastrous out of-pocket medical expenses that drive the country's populace into poverty. Despite efforts to achieve sustainable Development Goal number 3 (SDG 3) which aims to achieve universal health coverage across the world, Kenya still allocates inadequate resources on healthcare falling below the Abuja Declaration of 2001. In this regard, the study examined the impact of selected macroeconomic variables on public healthcare financing in Kenya. Specific objectives of the study were to: determine the impact of inflation on public healthcare financing in Kenya, examine the impact of public debt on public healthcare financing in Kenya, determine the impact of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth on public healthcare financing in Kenya and establish the impact of tax revenue on public healthcare financing in Kenya. The study was anchored on Grossman theory of Health demand which states that quality healthcare system guarantees a healthy populace that is more productive and spur economic growth, other theories are the Wagner’s theory, Resource allocation theory and the Human capital theory. There are limited studies conducted on this topic and mainly focused on specific counties with qualitative analysis which did not represent Kenya at large and did not provide robust quantitative inferences. Quarterly time series data was collected, cleaned, coded through standardization and log transformation then arranged in table form before subjecting it to pre-diagnostic tests for normality, unit root, multicollinearity, bounds cointegration and Optimum lag length to ensure its reliability and consistency. The data was analysed using Vector Error Correction Model (VECM) method. From the results, all the tests met the required threshold for reliability. Post diagnostic tests for normality, autocorrelation, heteroskedasticity and CUSUM model stability were carried out and all of them met the required respective threshold for analysis. The study adopted descriptive and correlational research design. VECM results confirmed a long-run equilibrium between macroeconomic variables and healthcare financing. Inflation exerted a negative long-run effect (β = –0.1069, p < 0.05) but showed short-run positive adjustments (Δβ = 0.0477, p = 0.03). GDP growth (β = 0.2748, p < 0.001) and tax revenue (β = 0.6634, p < 0.001) significantly enhanced health allocations, while public debt displayed a weaker long-run effect (β = 0.1262, p = 0.059) with delayed short-run benefits (Δβ = 0.0892, p = 0.069). The study concluded that Inflation weakens real health budgets, public debt offers delayed benefits, GDP growth expands fiscal space, and tax revenue provides the most sustainable foundation for healthcare financing. The study recommended that Kenya should stabilize inflation, adopt strategic debt management, and link GDP growth to health allocations. Expanding domestic tax capacity through digitization, formalization, and earmarked health taxes will enhance sustainable financing. Strengthening procurement efficiency and local pharmaceutical production can mitigate inflationary pressures, ensuring predictable, equitable, and long-term funding for universal healthcare.