Effect Of Organization Culture On The Relationship Between Quality Management System Adoption And Performance Of Public Universities In Kenya

ABSTRACT

Globally, the capacity of Higher Education institutions to serve as drivers to economic

competitiveness has been negatively impacted due to the exponential growth and numerous

constraints which interfere with their quality. In Kenya, HEI in their attempt to cater for the 28%

increase in student number, 6% government capitation cut and 14.3% of the 28 week, academic

year time waste between the period 2014 and 2015 has come with many challenges caused by

overcrowding, crumbling infrastructure, inadequate human capital with a 1:500 lecturers to

student ratio and financial resources and declining quality of the professional courses on offer,

has raised concerns about quality of public university education. This study sought to analyze the

effect of organization culture on the relationship between QMS adoption and organization

performance of public universities in Kenya. The objectives were to: establish the relationship

between QMS adoption and organization Performance; determine the influence of organization

culture on organization performance and to analyze the moderating effects of organization

culture on QMS adoption and organization performance on public universities in Kenya. The

study was guided by structural contingency theory and equity theory. The population of the study

included 215 top management personnel of 11 public universities certified by Kenya Bureau of

Standards. The study employed a census survey with response at 94.41%. Pre-validated

questionnaires had reliability alpha of α = 0.917 organization culture, α = 0.815 Quality

Management System adoption and α = 0.93 organization performance internal consistency.

Results revealed R2 .421 p=.001 indicating that QMS adoption accounted for 42.1% change in

organization performance and has a strong significant contribution to organizational

performance; R2 .646 p=.001 indicating that Organization culture accounted for 64.6% variance

in organization performance and has a strong effect on organizational performance. Further, the

moderation perspective revealed organization culture (β=.492 p=0.030) moderated the

relationship significantly implying the interactive effect of organization culture improved

organization Performance by 0.7% (Δ R2 .007 p=0.030). The study concluded that organization

culture increases the effect of QMS adoption on organization performance. The study

recommends the need for universities to invest more on individual believes that can enhance

organization performance through improving and maintaining QMS based on the existing

organization culture. The study significance is that it has informed policy makers and

academia’s on issues relating to organization culture and QMS adoption that can make higher

education institutions attain peak performance.