Theoretical Literature Review
Competitiveness of Public Universities
According to Harrison, Daniel and Philip, (2010) at this time of global economic
crisis it is imperative for those who run the organization to ensure with their behaviours
and attitudes that employees and other stakeholders alike rely on their ethical
observance and commitment to values that promote confidence. Competitiveness has
dominated the strategic position of every organization particularly in current turbulence
and multifaceted in the business environment. Competitiveness now is no longer
embedded in only physical and financial capital. It is through effective channeling of
successful growth and sustainability in business where human capital drives
organizations towards higher capacity to learn to attain competitive advantage. The key
to success of an organization is to effectively meet the demands of its stakeholders
comparative to those offering similar goods or services. It is viewed that for an
organization to achieve competitive advantage over industry players it is important to
ensure renewed methods to getting things done and eventually bring about new products
and services.
When the employees are retained for long it helps in cost cutting and increased
productivity as employees are main players in giving quality of service in the
organization and for the business results of company. High rate of employee attrition is
risky to any organization, because of human capital cost i.e. skills, training and
knowledge. Therefore, it is necessary for organizations to take steps for retaining trained
employees in order to avoid major loses, (Vasquez, 2014). It is argued that through
competition firms and organizations explore new ways of increasing their efficiency
and productivity by reaching to new markets. Competitive ability of an organization
refers to the characteristics that allow a firm to compete efficiently and increases the
urge to compete - these characteristics are; Productivity as per the scientific literature is
the relationship between output and input, and between the results or proceeds and
sacrifices. The high quality of work increases the competitiveness of the organization
which helps in attaining customer satisfaction and in becoming a more feasible
organization. The researcher hence used Webometrics ranking and students’ enrolment
as a measure of competitiveness in university competitiveness.
Webometrics Ranking
The ranking is based on university web presence, visibility and web access.
Webometrics measures how strongly a university is present in the web by its own web
domain, sub- pages, rich files, and scholarly articles i.e. research papers. Repositories
have widely been acknowledged as ideal platforms for disseminating research findings
from scholars in the different research spheres. Organizations that carry out ranking of
academic institutions have as result utilized repository evaluation as a tool for
determining research output of Institutions. According Beer (2009), a repository opens
up the outputs of the university to the world; it maximizes the visibility and impact of
these outputs as a result; a repository showcases the university to interested
constituencies prospective staff, prospective students’ and other stakeholders. He adds
that repositories facilitate the development and sharing of digital teaching materials and
aids while also supporting student endeavours, providing access to theses and
dissertations and a location for the development of electronic portfolios.
According to the latest ranking released by a highly respected research group
called Webometrics, public universities in Kenya as of 2019; Word’s leading
universities ranking system, the University of Nairobi still remains the best public
university in Kenya while Kenyatta University and Egerton University take the second
and third spots respectively. Since 2004, the Ranking Web (or Webometrics Ranking)
is published twice a year (data is collected during the first weeks of January and July for
being public at the end of both months), covering 25,000 Higher Education Institutions
worldwide. The intention is usually to motivate both institutions and scholars to have a
web presence that reflects accurately their activities. Consequently, if the web
performance of an institution is below the expected position according to their academic
excellence, university authorities should reconsider their web, open access and
transparency policy, promoting substantial increases of the volume and quality of their
electronic publications. Data is collected between 1st of January and 10th of July in a
year. Each variable is obtained at least two times during that period and the maximum
value is chosen for discarding mistakes or errors. Volatility of search engines is very
high so figures can be different and not easily replicated if the search is performed days
later.
Students Enrolment in Public Universities in Kenya
University education is a critical component of human resource development. With the
convergent impacts of globalization, the increasing importance of knowledge as a main
driver of growth, and the information and communication revolution, an educated
populace is vital in today’s world. According to Commission of University Education
(CUE), University programmes are classified into four levels namely: bachelors, post-
graduate diploma, masters, and doctoral. Bachelors’ level had the highest proportion of
programmes at 48% (1627), followed by master’s at 34% (1162), doctorate level at
15% (518) while the post-graduate diploma level had the least number of programmes
at 3% (96). Of the total 3,408 programmes in both public and private universities,
public universities had the bulk of the programmes at 81% (2752) while the private
university had 19% (655).
The nature of programmes offered in various universities is largely determined by the
nature of the institution’s establishment, market forces, availability of resources,
controls by professional bodies, availability and adequacy of space, facilities, and
teaching staff among other factors. According to CUE University Enrolment University
students ‘enrolment in Kenya has continued to grow steadily. The total enrolment of
students in 2015 was 539,749 compared to 440,840 in 2014. This represented an
increase of 22%. University students’ enrolment was highest in public universities
(85%) compared to private universities (15%) across all levels of programmes. Of all
the students enrolled in public and private universities, 59% ware male and 41% were
female.
REFERENCES
Abbasi, S. M., & Hollman, K. W. (2000). Turnover: The real bottom line. Public Personnel
Management, 29(3), 333-342.
Afaq F. U., Yusofet, R. M., Khan, A., Azam, K., &Thukiman, K. (2011). Employees’ training
and performance relationship in hospitality sector: A Case of Pearl Continental
Hotel, Karachi, Pakistan. International Review of Business Research Papers, 7(3),
149-158.
Akuoko, K. O., &Ansong, F. (2012). Employee retention strategies and workers’ performance:
General views of employees in Ashanti region of Ghana. International Journal of
Business and Management Tomorrow, 2(8), 10-15.
Albaqami, A. (2016). Determinants of Turnover Intention Among Faculty Members in Saudi
Public Universities. University of Salford,54-60.
Amutuhaire, T. (2010). Terms of Service and Job Retention among Academic Staff in Makerere
University. Makerere University, Kampala, 86-99.
Armstrong, M. (2012). Armstrong‟s Handbook of Reward Management Practice: Improving
Performance through Reward (3rd ed, Vol. 3). London: Kogan Page Limited.255-
256.
Asumwa, A., & Fred, S. (2014). The Relationship Between Innovation Strategies and
Organizational Competitiveness of Kenya Power & Lighting Company Ltd. The
International Journal of Interdisciplinary Social Sciences: Annual Review. G.J.I.S.S.,
3, 36–40.
Bardoel, E.A., De Cieri, H. & Mayson, S. 2008a. Bridging the research-practice gap: developing
a Measurement framework for work-life initiatives. Journal
of Management and Organization,14(3): 239-248.
Barney, J. B. (1986). Organizational culture: can it be a source of sustained competitive
advantage. Academy of Management Review, 11, 656–665.
Barney, J. B. (1991). Firm resources and sustained competitive advantage. Journal of
Management, 17, 99–120.
Beardwell, J., & Claydon, T. (2007). Human Resource Management. A contemporary Approach.
London, 67-70.
Belay, M. (2004). Examining Turnover Intent: Examining the Effect of Employee
Engagement, Compensation Fairness,Job Satisfaction and Age. Tennesse Universit,
15-20.
Beloor V, Nanjunde swaraswamy T, & Swamy D (2017), Employee Commitment and
Quality of Work Life – A Literature Review, International Journal of Indian Psychology,
Volume 4, Issue 2, No. 86.
Boswell, W. R., Gardner, R. G., & Wang, J. (2016). Is retention necessarily a win?
Outcomes of searching and staying. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 98, 163-172.
Boyne, G. A., James, O., John, P., & Petrovsky, N. (2011). Top Management Turnover and
Organizational Performance: A Test of a Contingency Model. Public Administration
Review, 71(4), 572–581.
Briner, Brewer, C. S., Kovner, C. T., Greene, W., Tukov‐ Shuser, M., & Djukic, M. (2009).
Predictors of actual turnover in a national sample of newly licensed registered nurses
employed in hospitals. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 68(3), 521–538.
Bushe, B. (2012). Factors that Determine Academic Staff Retention and Commitment in Private
Tertiary Institutions in Botswana: Empirical Review. Global Advanced Research
Journal of Management and Business Studies, 1(9), 278–299.
Cardy, R. L. (1998). Work life balances in a quality context: A new look at an old problem.
Work life balances: A State of the Art in Practice, Global Advanced Research
Journal of Management and Business Studies,132–162.
Cascio, W. (2010). The Changing World of Work. Oxford Handbook of Positive Psychology and
Work, 72-92
Clarke, M., Koch, L., and Hill E. (2004), “The work–family interface: Differentiating balance
and fit”, Family and Consumer Sciences Research Journal, 33-34.
Coaldrake, P., & Stedman, L. (2009). Academic work in the twenty-first century: Changing
roles and policies. Academy of Management Review, 31: 72-92
Collings, D. G., & Wood, G. (1991). Human resource management: A critical approach. In D.
G. Collings & G. Wood (Eds.), Human resource management handbook, London,
470-479.
Comunian, R., Taylor, C., and Smith, D. N. (2013). The Role of Universities in the Regional
Creative Economies of the UK: Hidden Protagonists and the Challenge of
Knowledge Transfer. European Planning Studies, 1-21.
De Carolis, D. (2002). The Role of Social Capital and Organizational Knowledge in Enhacing
Entrepreneurial Opportunities in High-Technology Environments. New York: Oxford
University Press, 31: 88-96
Ferlie, E., Musselin, C., & Andresani, G. (2008). The steering of higher education systems: a
public management perspective. Higher Education, 56(3), 325–348.
Glen, C. (2006). Key skills retention and motivation: the war for talent still rages and retention is
the high ground. Industrial and Commercial Training, 1(38), 37–45.
Grant, R. M. (1991). The resource-based theory of competitive advantage: implications for
strategy formulation. California Management Review (Vol. 33), 88-95.
Grimm, G.H.C. (2017). From engagement to commitment: A new perspective on the employee
attitude-firm performance relationship. International Leadership Journal, 9(1),
3-29.
Growth, M. J., Trares, S., & Kohler, J. M. (2007). Healthy Workplace Practices and Employee
Outcomes. International Journal of Stress Management, 14(3) 45-47
Harrington, B. (2006). The Impact of Human Resource Management Practices on Turnover
Academy of Management Journal, 38(3) 70-72
Harrison, D. A. N., Daniel, A. R., & Philip, L. (2010). How Important Are Job Attitudes? Meta-
Analytic Comparisons of Integrative Behavioral Outcomes and Time Sequences.
Academy of Management Journal,49(2), 102-110.
Huntley Manhertz, Jr., (2017).Worldwide Trends in Employee Retention: How to Keep Your
Best Employeesin Any Market. International Journal of Management, Economics
and Social Sciences, 25(1), 26–47
Kamau, S. W., & Waudo, J. (2012). Hospitality industry employer’s expectations of employees’
competences in Nairobi hotels. Journal of Hospitality Management and Tourism,
3(4), 55–63.
Kanter, R. M., Darrow, M., &Maccoby, M. (1979). Perspectives on leadership. American
Association for Higher Education, 45-58.
Kodikal, H.U. (2017). Impact of employee work related attitudes on job performance.
British Journal of Economics, Finance and Management Sciences, 13(2), 98-120.
Kontoghiorghes, C. (2016). Linking high performance organizational culture and talent
management: Satisfaction/motivation and organizational commitment as mediators.
The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 27(16), 1833–1853.
Kogut, B., & Zander, U. (1992). Knowledge of the Firm, Combinative Capabilities, and the
Replication of Technology. Organization Science, 3(10).
