Abstract:
Strategic human resource management in public sector organizations enables
governance arrangements that promote efficient service delivery. However,
service delivery in county governments in Kenya gets stymied by both human
resource and funding constraints. Due to contextual gaps in the strategic human
resource management practises in county governments in Kenya, the study
evaluated the role played by strategic human resource planning on service
delivery in Kenya. The study adopted a descriptive design and systematically
examined the HRM practises by sampling 140 respondents (47 county
secretaries, 47 county directors of HRM and 46 municipality managers from
municipalities based at the county headquarters of 46 counties) through
interviews and questionnaires. The respondents were selected based on their
operational and functional human resource management roles in various units
in the 47 counties. The research instrument was validated through a review by
a panel of supervisors and a pilot testing exercise. The qualitative reports
indicated that the county governments can attract qualified and competent
persons with critical skill sets to match the various job descriptions and
optimally sustain service provisions at the county level. The correlation analysis
indicated that service delivery positively correlated with strategic HR planning
practises (r = 0.6510, p< 0.05) at 0.05 significance levels, while the regression
analysis indicated that strategic HR planning practises explains about 41.61 %
variance in service delivery with an effect size (β1 = 0.6451 (t = 8.97, p< 0.05).
Based on the findings, the study concludes that strategic human resource
planning practises hold a positive and significant potential impact on service
delivery in county governments in Kenya. The study recommends proactive
planning and proper structuring of the county workforce based on knowledge,
skills, abilities, and other characteristics.
