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EVALUATION OF SELECTED INTERNSHIP FACTORS ON MASTERY OF SOFT SKILLS AMONG INTERNS: EVIDENCE FROM NAKURU COUNTY GOVERNMENT, KENYA
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Evaluating the Influence of Flexible Work Arrangement Strategy on Job Satisfaction
No full textFULL TEXTThe objective of this study was to evaluate the influence of flexible work arrangements strategy on job satisfaction among state corporations in Kenya. The greatest challenge facing organisations is whether their staffs are motivated to perform their duties and whether employees find their work interesting and meaningful. The ways jobs are designed has an important bearing on an employee’s job satisfaction. Understanding job design techniques and their influence on job satisfaction will lead organisations to keep the best employee pool for themselves and fend off competition. This study was based on several theories, namely: Job Characteristics model, Hertzberg's two-factor Hygiene theory, Clayton Alderfer’s ERG theory, equity theory, family-boarder theory, and boundary theory. The research design for this study was a cross-sectional descriptive design. This research sought to interrogate the extent to which the state corporations employ flexible work arrangements and its influence on job satisfaction and suggest possible areas of improvement. The target population was 187 state corporations. The unit of analysis was employees of the state corporations in Kenya. The research studied a sample size of 381 employees in 127 state corporations. The state corporations in Kenya were selected using stratified sampling, while employees were purposively selected. To obtain the data, semi-structured questionnaires were used in this research. Data collected were analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics with the aid of the SPSS package. The findings of this study show that a flexible work arrangement is a significant strategy in enhancing job satisfaction among state corporations in Kenya
Maternal Factors Influencing Low Birth Weight in West Pokot County, Kenya
No full textFULL TEXTWorldwide an estimated 20% babies are born LBW and the impact of LBW on infant
mortality is enormous. Child survival and development need more focus on healthy start of
life. The objective of this study was to investigate maternal characteristics associated with
LBW. Cross-sectional mixed study design was employed to collect data from7randomly
selected health facilitiesusing interviewer administered questionnaire. A sample of 223
eligible mothers was selected and associations analyzed using chi square tests and
regression analysis to confirm their statistical significance. Maternal nutrition; MUAC (B =
1.890, p=0.045), Antenatal Care attendance (B=2.236 p<0.001), Mothers education (B =
1.399, p=0.003), marital status (B=-5.647, p<0.001), FGM (B = 1.532, p<0.001). Sociodemographic
and cultural characteristics were strongly predictivein mothers giving birth
LBW babies. Interventions that focus on improving the socio- demographic characteristics
recommended improving birth outcome (LBW).1. National Research Fund
2. Sentimental Energy Lt
BLOCKCHAIN BASED SMART CONTRACT MODEL FOR REAL ESTATE MANAGEMENT
No full textFULL TEXTIndustries worldwide are facing a technological revolution where there is a need for technologies that can speed up business processes with more safety and transparency. The real estate industry is among many other industries that would benefit from such technologies due to the magnitude of financial transactions handled. The current management strategy employed by real estate owners depends on a number of intermediaries, including brokers, agents and banking service providers. This strategy of operation results to inadequacies within the real estate industry that cause problems such as lack of transparency, high transaction costs, personal biases, tax evasion or under taxation, landlord versus tenant conflicts and slow transaction processes. This thesis examines the potential of implementation of blockchain-based smart contract technology in the real estate industry and how it might resolve the inefficiencies within the industry. Blockchain is a new and emerging technology with the potential for implementation in various industries. Previous research in blockchain technology has concentrated on its potential application in digital currency. In this study, the researcher endeavored to design, develop and validate a blockchain-based smart contract model for management of real estate property that would address the weaknesses of the existing management models and potentially reduce the housing cost by elimination middlemen in the management process. To achieve the study objectives, a proof of concept (POC) methodology was adopted to prove the concept of resolving the weaknesses of the existing models for real estate property management using a blockchain-based smart contract model. The proof of concept was carried out in four steps namely planning, designing, implementation and improvement (PDIOI). The POC focused on coming up with a Solidity Smart Contract Based on Ethereum Model for Housing Industry available at grandmullah.github.io/real-estate. To demonstrate blockchain transactions the researcher created a cryptocurrency ―EToken‖ that would be used as a medium of exchange. The researcher also acquired test ethers from Ethereum Rinkeby faucet for paying transaction validation fee. The smart contract model was able to transfer ETokens from tenant account to the landlord account. All the transactions were recorded in blockchain distributed ledgers upon successful validation, and the entire Ethereum network users would view allowing transparency and integrity of transactions. As a generalisation and extension into other domains, the researcher noted that a blockchain-based model is important in any organisation that values historical transactions such as organisation which provides financial service. As a recommendation for further study, research can be extended to creating a completely blockchain-based version of electronic real estate transaction records, including land registry, or real estate ownership transfers
Is the Size of Devolved Expenditure Optimal in Kenya? A Balanced Budget Approach
No full textFull textThis study, assuming a balanced budget, attempts to estimate the optimal size of county
government expenditure in Kenya using the panel ARDL regression and Scully (2008) model
for the period 2013-2017. The panel ARDL series analysis reveals that devolved government
size is optimized when county expenditures stand at 9.7% of GCP (Gross County Product). The
estimated threshold size is higher than the current size of county government in Kenya. The low
level of devolved government size in counties reflects the low level of economic development in
Kenya. This finding is very much interesting since it highlights that the current size of county
government in Kenya is below the optimum level or size and there is still scope of increase in
devolved government spending to the GCP ratio in Kenya. County Government expenditure has
the potential to stimulate the county economy and remove economic growth sticking points or
even deduce market failures. This study therefore recommends that county government should
increase its spending on infrastructure, social and economic activities
THE ROLE OF FAMILY CONSTELLATIONS ON DEVELOPMENT OF EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE AMONG REGULAR UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS IN NAKURU COUNTY, KENYA
Get PDFThe study sought to assess the influence of Family constellations on psychosocial adjustments of
regular third year undergraduate Students in Nakuru County, Kenya. The specific objective was to
determine the influence of family constellations on emotional intelligence of regular undergraduate
third year Students in Nakuru County, Kenya. The study used a mixed-method research approach
and adopted a cross-sectional survey research design. The target population was 2862 third year
regular undergraduate students from five selected universities. A random sample of 307 students
forming a 90.6 percent response rate participated in the study. Stratified random sampling was used
to distribute the sample in the five selected universities. Primary data was collected using semi structured questionnaire and interview schedule, while secondary data was collected from existing
documents about the topic under study. Quantitative data was analyzed using descriptive statistics
(frequencies, percentages and means) and inferential statistics (ANOVA and Chi Square tests) with
the aid of Statistical Package for Social Sciences version 26.0 for Windows while qualitative data
was analyzed using thematic content analysis. The study findings indicate that majority of the
respondents came from dual (nuclear) parent families. There was no statistically significant
difference in the emotional intelligence of regular third year undergraduate students from different
family structures. The study recommends that there is a need for parents to maintain a unified
family structure in order to encourage holistic psychosocial development and adjustment of their
children in universities. The output of the study would be a tool for learning and professional
development in psychological counselling discipline equipping the mental health service providers,
educators, guidance and counselling committees in our learning institutions with the new
knowledge of family constellations and psychosocial adjustment among ongoing undergraduate
students in the universitie
EFFECTS OF ETHICAL ACCOUNTING PRACTICES ON FINANCIAL REPORTING: A SURVEY OF LISTED FIRMS IN KENYA
No full textFULL TEXTListed companies attract mutual and hedge funds, institutional and market traders due to the indirect
advertising and endorsement in most major exchanges. For these companies to continue attracting investors,
they have to provide financial reports to the public as well as shareholders. Through Institute of Certified
Public Accountants of Kenya, accounting and finance practitioners have promoted the implementation of
International Public Sector Accounting Standards (IPSAS). Despite the efforts, listed firms in the country
continue to face challenges in financial reporting. This study thus sought to investigate the effects of ethical
accounting practices on financial reporting of listed firms in Kenya. It specifically examined the effects of
accounting objectivity, professional competence, integrity and confidentiality on listed firms in Kenya. The study
adopted a descriptive research design and all the 67 listed firms in Kenya were targeted. The study used census
method to select all the listed companies. However, six (10%) listed firms were selected for a pilot study and the
other 61 firms were studied in the actual study. Structured questionnaires were used in data collection. The
reliability of the instruments was tested using Cronbach’s Alpha test of internal consistency and found to be
adequate at 0.7. Data analysis was done using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) where descriptive
statistics (frequencies, percentages and mean scores) and inferential statistics (Pearson Correlations and simple
linear regressions) were employed. A multiple linear regression analysis was also employed with a view of
explaining the influence of objectivity, professional competence, integrity and confidentiality on the financial
reporting of the listed firms. The study found a coefficient of determination of 0.632 indicating that 63.2% of the
variability in the financial reporting is attributable to the cumulative effect of confidentiality, professional
competence, objectivity, and integrity. The achieved beta coefficients for objectivity, professional competence,
integrity and confidentiality had beta coefficients of 0.264, 0.263, 0.299, and 0.228 respectively. The positive
beta coefficients of all the variables indicated that increases in the respective independent variables were
associated with increases in the dependent variable with the remainders of the variables kept constant. The
study further found that there were statistically significant relationships between each of the accounting
practices and financial reporting
A Comparative Analysis of Standard and Ensemble Classifiers on Intrusion Detection System
No full textFULL TEXTWith the increased dependence on the Internet, Network Intrusion Detection system (NIDs) becomes an indispensable part of information security system. NIDs aims at distinguishing the network traffic as either normal or abmormal. Due to the variety of network behaviors and the rapid development of attack strategies, it is necessary to build an intelligent and effective intrusion detection system with high detection rates and low false-alarm rates. One of the major developments in machine learning in the past decade is the ensemble method that generates a set of accurate and diverse classifiers that combine their outputs such that the resultant classifier outperforms all the single classifiers. In this work a comparative analysis on performance of three different ensemble methods, bagging, boosting and stacking is performed in order to determine the algorithm with high detection accuracy and low false positive rate. Three different experiments on NSL KDD data set are conducted and their performance evaluated based on accuracy, false alarms and computation time. The overall performance of the different types of classifiers used proved that ensemble machine learning classifiers outperformed the single classifiers with high detection accuracy and low false rates
FINANCIAL SERVICE ACCESSIBILITY STRATEGIES FOR FARMERS‘ ECONOMIC EMPOWERMENT IN KENYA: A SURVEY OF SMALL-SCALE TEA FARMERS IN KISII COUNTY
No full textFULL TEXTEconomic empowerment is an important goal for any Government. Agriculture is the main source of food as well as income of Kenya‘s economy. Various interventions and policies for ease of access to financial service have been carried out by different state and non-state agencies to achieve intermediate goals of enhancing the level of financial service providers, physical proximity, creating favourable economic factors, and addressing cross-cutting social contributory factors such as engendering, financial literacy among others. Therefore, the study was set to investigate the financial service accessibility strategies for economic empowerment in Kenya based on a survey of small-scale tea farmers in Kisii County. It was guided by the Resource-Based View Theory and incorporated the following theories: Financial Inclusion Theory, Classical Theory of Interest Rate, Financial Deepening Theory and Imperfect Information Theory. The study adopted a descriptive research design. Simple random and stratified sampling techniques were used. A sample size of 398 of tea farmers (participants) was studied, which represented all registered KTDA farmers in Kisii County and their several coded and un-coded buying centres. Questionnaires were used to collect primary data and later analysed using SPSS version 20. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analysed data as well as establish the relationship between variables and draw conclusions. The key findings using principal component analysis extraction method showed that there was significant positive relationship between the level of financial providers, Physical proximity, economic factors, social factors, the moderating effect of demographic factors on the relationship between financial service accessibility strategies and economic empowerment and the joint influence of financial service accessibility on economic empowerment among small-scale tea farmers in Kisii County –Kenya. It was concluded that the level of access to financial service providers is a significant aspect in enhancing economic empowerment. There is inadequate infrastructure development in the rural areas which affect financial accessibility among tea farmers’ educational level determines tea farmers‘ financial accessibility and the effect of demographic factors. The study recommends that financial institutions should develop financial products that are tailor-made to the needs of tea farmers to increase financial inclusion among farmers and adopt reliable information technology which will enhance financial inclusivity among tea farmers. The national government, through the ministry of lands and the national land commission, should ensure that land ownership challenges are addressed so that those lands can be used for economic purposes which include using the title deeds for securing credit facilities from financial institutions to enhance their economic welfare. That through collaboration between KTDA and financial institutions, tea farmers should regularly organise workshops, training on financial literacy to create awareness on financial management and opportunities for their economic empowerment. Suggestions are proposed for further research in financial service access strategies that can economically empower farmers in Kisii County and the same to apply to other counties in Kenya and Africa as a whole; including political, cultural behaviour and climatic changes