HUMAN CAPITAL INITIATIVES AND VALUE CREATION IN PUBLIC UNIVERSITIES IN KENYA

Abstract

The importance attached to the role played by Universities in realization of the vision 2030 Kenya is anchored in the social economic pillar of the vision’s strategic plan. Universities are charged with creation and dissemination of knowledge for development. At the heart of knowledge creation is the human capital as a valued resources that manipulates other organizational resources to achieve the goals and objectives of the institution. The study focused on Human Capital initiatives among public universities in Kenya on value creation. The study was guided by the following objective: To examine the relationship between human capital initiatives and value creation in public universities. The study adopted a mixed research design and was therefore both quantitative and qualitative in nature. A survey was conducted among public universities charted before the year 2010. The study employed a questionnaire administered to academic staff who hold managerial positions. The sampling procedure was purposive in nature. A questionnaire was administered to respondents by means of drop and pick. Descriptive analysis generated percentage distribution, means and standard deviations. Diagnostics tests were performed to determine the suitability and adequacy of the sample represented for further tests. This included linearity, multicollinearity, heteroscedacity and normality tests. Linear regression analysis, analysis of variance, coefficients and multiple regression were employed to examine the nature of the relationship between variables. The study established a strong positive significant relationship between Human Capital and Value Creation in public universities. From the findings drawn, there is a need for knowledge intensive institutions to strategically develop human capital initiatives that result in leveraging value creation. Universities are encouraged to invest further in their human capital initiatives given its strong positive significant influence on value creation. Value generated provides confidence among stakeholders and to lure investors by providing sufficient evidence on information necessary to make informed choices and decisions on partnerships, collaborations and funding.