KABU Repository (Kabarak University)
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Effect Of Strategic Environmental Analysis On Disaster Management In Kenya. (A Case Of National Government Ministries)
No full textFull textKenya has experienced an increase in the frequency of disasters over the past two decades. This
study sought to analyse the effects of strategic environmental analysis on disaster management in
Kenya, a case of national government ministries. The study adopted the survey research design.
The target population was heads of departments and the unit of analysis was the Kenya
government ministries. The study population was 128. To obtain the data, semi-structured
questionnaires were used. The data was analysed by use of Statistical Package for Social
Sciences (SPSS) and then presented in tables, graphs, and percentages. The study adopted
multiple regression model and Pearson Product-Moment correlation. The study established a
statistically significant effect of strategic environmental analysis on disaster management in
Kenya, as exemplified by results from the national government ministries. The study concludes
that strategic environmental analysis as a strategic management practice has significantly
enhanced disaster management in Kenya
Influence of Workforce Diversity on Team Cohesion of Employees in Kenyan Private Universities: Evidence from Kabarak University
No full textFULL TEXTWorkforce diversity provides an environment for employees to learn more from each other thus making an institution stronger in terms of tolerance, ideas, innovation and creativity. The changing demographics in workforce composition in Kenya not only increases the amount of diversity that institutions need to manage and integrate but also affects business operations and productivity that inevitably affects the overall well-being of the country. This study sought to determine the influence of workforce diversity on team cohesion of employees in Kenyan private universities: evidence from Kabarak University, and was anchored on four objectives; to examine the influence of gender diversity on team cohesion among employees at Kabarak University, to assess the influence of ethnic diversity on team cohesion among employees at Kabarak University, to determine the influence of age diversity on team cohesion among employees at Kabarak University and to assess the influence of religion diversity on team cohesion among employees at Kabarak University. The study was guided bythe Resource Based Theory of Diversity Management (RBT) and the Team Development Model of team development and cohesion. The study adopted a descriptive research design to give an understanding of workforce diversity and team cohesion. The researcher adopted a case study model. Stratified random sampling was used to draw a sample size of 149 from the target population of 167 teaching staff and 274 non-teaching staff. The Nassiuma (2000) equation was applied to calculate the appropriate sample. Primary data was collected using a structured questionnaire and was analyzed using both descriptive statistics and inferential statistics. Descriptive statistics, mainly, frequencies and percentages were used in this study and the findings were presented using tables and graphs while the inferential statistics was analyzed in the form of correlation and multiple linear regression. The Cronbach's alpha was employed to determine the internal consistency and average correlation of items in the case study to gauge the reliability of the tool that was piloted at St. Paul‟s University, Nakuru Campus.The researcher used Spearman's correlation coefficient, to measure the strength and direction of association between the ranked variables with the help of the Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS).The results indicated that there were statistically significant influences with respect to gender, age, tribe and religion respectively and team cohesion. These findings suggest that Private Universities in Kenya as represented by Kabarak University do require on-going training and development of employees along with frequent surveys to determine how employees react to a heterogeneous workforce that would further enhance team cohesion. The study concluded that age diversity, ethnic diversity, religion diversity and gender diversity at Kabarak University were primary contributors to team cohesion. The findings of this study may help private institutions of higher learning to appreciate workforce diversity and learn how to overcome workforce diversity challenges amongst team members within the institution in order to improve team cohesion
INFLUENCE OF CULTURE ON HEALTH INSURANCE UPTAKE AMONG PATIENTS AT CHOGORIA MISSION HOSPITAL, THARAKA NITHI COUNTY
No full textFULL TEXTThe government of Kenya plans to largely finance Universal Health Coverage through the National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF). However, most of the Kenyan population do not have health insurance cover. They rely mainly on out-of-pocket payment. The reality today is that uptake of health insurance is still low in general, particularly in rural areas, where the majority of Kenyans live. Studies have identified four main reasons why individuals are not registered for any form of health insurance: affordability, value, relevance and process. However, these reasons may be complicated by cultural and social beliefs, as revealed by studies done in other middle and low- income countries. The aim of this study was to describe cultural beliefs and practices that may have an influence on health insurance uptake. We used a qualitative phenomenology study design over a period of 3 months at Chogoria Mission Hospital. The target population of this study was patients seeking care at Chogoria Mission Hospital. The study used a purposive sampling to recruit participants from inpatient and outpatient departments. Through 20 in-depth interviews using a semi structured design and utilizing the constant comparative method of analysis, we identified the following themes: religious beliefs, patriarchal culture, traditional medicine use, economic priority, misconception of value and procrastination, peer influence of purchasing insurance and Harambe as factors that might have an influence on health insurance uptake. Unique to this study was the theme about health insurance being associated with family and community dissociation or cohesion. Compared to findings in other countries, the findings of this study suggest that culture also has an influence on health insurance. This study suggests that most reasons of non-enrollment are hinged on cultural motivation. The results of this study need to be explored more in details in other studies. The study recommends the following to the stakeholders: Identify and use community champions (religious leaders, local authorities, traditional healers, insured champions) as agents and advocates of health insurance in general but the National Health Insurance, specifically. Clinicians dealing with patient without health insurance should do a quick diagnosis of things that might be hindering patient to have insurance and do an appropriate counseling accordingly
Modalities of Healthcare Payment and their Consequences – A Qualitative Study on Kenyan Doctors
No full textFULL TEXTThe Kenyan government has put a spirited reform to ensure all Kenyans get universal
healthcare. This has led to restructuring of several entities among them the health insurance
industry. This is geared at alleviating the burden of catastrophic expenditure on health from
the poor Kenyans. However, insurance uptake remains at less than a quarter of the
population with many Kenyans still paying for healthcare out-of-pocket. These out-ofpocket
payers often don’t afford the ever-increasing cost of healthcare in Kenya. This study
looked at how doctors deal with patients given their modality of payment. This was an
online based survey that was distributed to Kenyan doctors via email by Kenya Medical
Association. The survey sought information from the respondents on how they dealt with
patients given their modality of payment. In addition, respondents were asked to provide an
example of a case they had dealt with that touched on each payment modality. Respondents
gave their experiences where insurance had influenced their clinical decisions. Codes
developed from the prose were; “inability to pay”, “harmful to the patient”, “changed the
prescription” among others Health insurance played a crucial role whenever respondents
made decisions. Top on the list of things that the majority indicated would be considered is
insurance status and/or their ability of patients to pay for the services. Respondents are
stuck in a limbo; striving to give the best care to patients but limited by the patients’
inability to pay. In explaining their experiences, respondents explain a situation where they
intend to offer the best, but patients cannot afford. This especially so for those without
health insurance who end up either not getting services or at the very best, get inferior
services1. National Research Fund
2. Sentimental Energy Lt
An Evaluation of Influence of Leadership on Management of Strategic Organizational Change A Case Study of Nakuru County Government, Kenya
No full textFULL TEXTLeadership has the ability to bring a vision into reality by making swift decisions and inspiring others. Leadership is guiding people and the company in the right direction through empowerment and inspiration, objectively enabling people to achieve organizational goals, whereas management is a set of processes that help the company to be reliable and efficient. This study sought to investigate the influence of leadership on strategic change in Nakuru county government. Specifically the study sought to determine establish the influence of leaderships’ communication and leaderships’ strategic direction on strategic change in Nakuru county government. The study was anchored on systems theory and strategic leadership theory. A descriptive research design was used for this study. The study targeted employees from several cadres in the county totalling to 1266. To come up with a sample of 304 respondents the study made use of proportionate stratified random sampling technique. Primary data was collected using a questionnaire as the main data collection instrument. The study generated both qualitative and quantitative data. Quantitative data was coded and entered into Statistical Packages for Social Scientists (SPSS) and analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. Qualitative data was analyzed based on the content of the responses. Karl Pearson’s coefficient of correlation and multiple regressions was used to establish the relationship between the independent variables and the dependent variables. The study concluded that communication and strategic directionhad positive and statistically significant influence on the strategic change individually. The study recommended that the leadership had an influence on the strategic organizational change of the county government at Nakuru with communication, strategic direction, organizational culture and dynamics management had positive and significant influence on the strategic change individually. The study thus recommended that the county government of Nakuru should put emphasis on the leadership aspects at the country to influence the strategic change
INFLUENCE OF MOBILE-BASED LENDING ON THE FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE OF MICROFINANCE BANKS IN NAIROBI COUNTY, KENYA
No full textFULL TEXTThe microfinance banks play a critical role in the economic development of diverse countries across the world especially amongst the developing countries. Microfinance banks offer financial services to those members of populations that are excluded from accessing these services from conventional financial systems. Therefore microfinance banks are critical in improving access to the financial services of the poor since the banks do not require high collaterals for its customers. However, the microfinance banks continue to face challenges in their financial performance which include profitability, loan processing costs and number of non-performing loans. This study sought to examine the influence of loan disbursement, loan appraisal process, loan repayment terms and convenience associated with mobile-based lending on the financial performance of microfinance banks. The study used Agency Costs of Free Cash Flow Theory, Asymmetric Information Theory, Adverse Selection Theory and Technology Acceptance Model. The study adopted descriptive research design to guide the study in meeting its objectives. The target population for the study was employees working in the department of finance from the 13 registered microfinance banks in Kenya. The target population of the study is 130 employees. Using a target population of 130 people and error margin of 0.05, a sample size of 98 respondents is achieved. The respondents were selected using stratified random sampling; whereby the microfinance at which the respondent works, formed the basis for stratification. The study constructed research questionnaires in line with the study objectives. The results found that loan disbursement had a regression coefficient of 0.202. This indicated that a unit increase in the loan disbursement led to 0.202 increases in financial performance of microfinance banks in Nairobi county Kenya with the other variables kept constant. The study concluded that there was a statistically significant influence of loan disbursement through mobile-based lending on financial performance at 5% level of significance. The study found that loan appraisal process had a regression coefficient of 0.227. This indicated that a unit increase in the loan appraisal process led to 0.227 increases in financial performance of microfinance banks in Nairobi county Kenya with the other variables kept constant. The study concluded that there was a statistically significant influence of loan appraisal process through mobile-based lending on financial performance at 5% level of significance. The results found that loan repayment terms of mobile banking had a regression coefficient of 0.205. This indicated that a unit increase in the loan repayment terms led to 0.205 increases in financial performance of microfinance banks in Nairobi county Kenya with the other variables kept constant. The study concluded that there was a statistically significant influence of loan repayment terms of mobile-based lending on financial performance at 5% level of significance. The results found that convenience associated with mobile-based lending had a regression coefficient of 0.167. The study concluded that there was a statistically significant influence of convenience associated with mobile-based lending on financial performance at 5% level of significance. The study recommends that the management of the microfinance bank should put an emphasis on the mobile based lending as it was found to have an influence of the financial performance of microfinance banks in Nairobi County, Kenya. Thus the management should place an emphasis on loan appraisal system through mobile based lending, loan repayment terms of mobile based lending, loan disbursement through mobile based lending and convenience associated with mobile based lending
INFLUENCE OF COMPETITIVE STRATEGIES ON PERFORMANCE OF SECOND HAND VEHICLE DEALER FIRMS IN NAKURU EAST SUBCOUNTY, KENYA
No full textFULL TEXTThe second hand vehicle dealership in Kenya has continued to be an extremely competitive sector. In the context of performance, the sector is considered to account for over 70% of the vehicles in Kenyan roads. This study sought to examine the influence of competitive strategies on performance of the second hand vehicle dealers in Nakuru East Sub County. The study was guided by the following competitive strategies that is customer focus strategies, cost leadership strategies, product differentiation and payment terms. The study uses the Michael Porter generic strategies model and operating cycle theory. The study applied census method of sampling .This study used a questionnaire for the purposes of data collection. Instruments of data collection were piloted in Naivasha using 10% of the sample size that is nine members. The validity of the instrument in this study was examined using the content validity index. The reliability of the instrument was checked using the cronbach alpha coefficient achieving 0.845, 0.795, 0.809, 0.844 and 0.874 for customer focus strategies, cost leadership strategies, product differentiation, payment terms and performance of second vehicles respectively. Descriptive statistics applied in this study include the frequency distributions. The study found that a multiple correlation coefficient (R) of 0.955 was achieved for the study. This revealed that there was a strong correlation between the observed values and the predicted values for performance. The study further found that 91.2 percent of the total variance in performance is explained by the combined effect of customer focus strategies, cost leadership strategies, product differentiation and payment terms. The achieved results revealed that for customer focus influence on performance had β1=0.227, t=4.446 and p value =0.000. These results were tested on whether they were statistically significant at 5% level of significance with a p value of 0.000 indicating that presence of a statistically significant relationship between customer focus and performance of the second hand vehicles dealers. The achieved results revealed that for cost leadership strategies influence on performance had β2= 0.352, t= 8.511and p value =0.000. These results were tested on whether they were statistically significant at 5% level of significance with a p value of 0.000 indicating that presence of a statistically significant relationship between cost leadership and performance of the second hand vehicles dealers. The study examined regression coefficients of the product differentiation influence on the performance. The achieved results revealed that for product differentiation strategies influence on performance had β3= 0.206, t= 6.008 and p value =0.000. The results thus indicated that a unit increase in product differentiation strategies would result into 0.206 increase in performance of the second hand vehicle dealers with the other variables kept constant. The achieved results revealed that for payment terms strategies influence on performance had β4= 0.224, t= 4.916and p value =0.000. These results were tested on whether they were statistically significant at 5% level of significance with a p value of 0.000 indicating that presence of a statistically significant relationship between payment term strategies and performance of the second hand vehicles dealers
DOCTORS’ TRAINING, KNOWLEDGE AND ATTITUDE IN END OF LIFE CARE: CROSS-SECTIONAL SURVEY OF THREE MISSION HOSPITALS IN KENYA
No full textFULL TEXTThere is an increasing number of people in Kenya with life limiting illnesses secondary to HIV/AIDS, cardiovascular diseases and cancer. Patients who suffer from these illnesses require palliative and end of life care. In developed countries such care is often given in a hospice or at home by palliative service professionals. In Kenya, there are limited such resources and opportunities and therefore care frequently ends up being offered by inpatient healthcare professionals. When this occurs, the patients‟ management is normally spear-headed by doctors. Currently there is a paucity of data regarding how prepared the doctors are in offering end of life care. The aims of this study were three-fold: to assess doctors‟ previous training in end of life care, to assess doctors‟ knowledge regarding end of life care, and to assess doctors‟ attitude towards end of life care. A descriptive cross-sectional survey utilizing a questionnaire was administered to doctors working in three mission hospitals in Kenya. Descriptive statistics and independent student t-test for association of knowledge and attitude scores was analysed using SPSS version 25.The response rate was 59.2%. Forty percent of the respondents had not had any end of life care training as part of their undergraduate curriculum. For those who had received training only 26% had received bedside training in addition to didactic lectures. Half of the respondents had pursued further training in end of life care after undergraduate training. End of life care knowledge was positively associated with having received both lectures and bedside teaching (p=0.001) as an undergraduate as well as having undergone further training in end of life care at postgraduate level (p=0.046). Other factors associated with a higher knowledge score on end of life care were: older age (p=0.008), seniority (p=0.000), medical specialty (p=0.029), having trained in a developed country (p=0.000) and having >10 years clinical experience (p=0.004).There was no significant association between the amount of training doctors had received and their attitude to end of life care. However, a positive attitude was associated with having >10 years of clinical experience (p=0.018), seniority (p=0.005), having trained in Kenya versus other developing countries (p=0.035) and having cared for >20 patients in the last six months of clinical practice (p=0.007). In conclusion, forty percent of doctors working in three mission hospitals in Kenya had never received any form of undergraduate training in end of life care. Those clinicians who had received more intensive end of life care training appeared to have a greater knowledge of end of life care management. Clinicians‟ attitude towards end of life care did not associate with the degree of training they had received. However, it was affected by a clinician‟s seniority and exposure to palliative patients. Curriculum reviewers should incorporate end of life care as part of training for all doctors. The training should include both lectures and bedside tutorial. Further research on the practice of end of life care is also recommended