Международный журнал экономики и менеджмента

Participatory management initiatives, employees commitment and employeesâ?? performance: An exploratory study among employees in water service providers in Kenya

Abstract

Elijah Ngangâ??a Njuguna, Jedidah Vika Muli, Lawrence Wainaina

The aim of the study was to evaluate mediating influence of employees commitment on participatory management and employees’ performance in water service providers in Murang’a County. The study was guided by the following objectives; a) To evaluate mediating effect of employees commitment on relationship between participatory management and employees’ performance in selected water service providers in Murang’a County, (b) To assess the mediating effect of employee commitment on the relationship between Participatory Management; Predicting Employees’ Performance. The study embraced an exploratory research design. A sample of 206 employees was selected from five water service providers namely: Murang’a Water and Sanitation Company Limited, Murang’a South Water and Sanitation Company Limited, Gatanga Water and Sanitation Company Limited, Gatamathi Water and Sanitation Company Limited and Kahuti Water and Sanitation Company Limited. Random sampling was applied in picking the respondents for the study. Self-administered questionnaires aided in collecting primary data and analyzed using both descriptive and inferential statistics. A pilot study was steered on data collection tool to pre-test it’s validity prior to the main survey. Data reliability was measured using Cronbach’s alpha coefficient. Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 21.0 was used to aid in coding, entry and analysis of data. conclusions and recommendations based on the findings were finally outlined. The study concludes that participatory management through consultative management, quality circles, representative participation and delegation is vital and significantly affects performance of employees in water service providers in Murang’a County, Kenya. However, the study finally concludes that employees commitment failed to mediate the relationship between participatory management and employees’ performance. Employees commitment therefore played insignificant part in enhancing effectiveness of participatory management to enhance employees’ performance. Suggestion that employees commitment partially mediates the relationship between participatory management and employees’ performance is a call to the management of water service providers in Murang’a County, Kenya to institute programmes that will ensure employees are committed to the job and organization as this is vital in enhancing effectiveness of participatory management .