Effect of Recruitment on Employee Performance
Tan et, al. (2016) exploring the impact of recruitment and selection, and compensation on the
performance of employees. Results of the study revealed that there are high positive correlations
in between the variables based upon responses 152 respondents from Perak state based personal
companies in Malaysia. The outcome of regression analysis revealed that employment and
selection, and payment have considerable positive influence on performance of employees. This
can be ended the theories show that all these have considerable effect on efficiency of staff
members. Thus, the effective company has to recognize the relevance of recruitment as well as
option method in addition to the organization settlement system as a vital variable to produce
positive results.
Sarinah, Gultom and Thabah (2016) analyzed the effect of recruitment and employee selection
on employee placement and its impacts towards employee performance. The analytical method
used is the method of path analysis. The results revealed that recruitment as well as selection
variables affect significantly on the positioning of staff members. In a similar way, worker
placement variable impact considerably on the performance of workers of Air Jakarta.
Nonetheless, only recruitment variable that significantly influence on staff member performance.
Recruitment is one the only variable that has straight impact on staff member performance.
While selection as well as placement of workers variable do not impact the efficiency of staff
members.
Rubery et al. (2011) focused at contributing to the debate of how social care workers for the
elderly could be recruited and retained to achieve the current and future needs of organizations.
The study primarily focused on care assistants and the services they offer to the older adults.
According to the findings of the research, improving the recruitment and retention aspects are
vital in improving the quality and availability of care staff, an issue that has for a long time
raised major concern. The research further showed that various factors affect recruitment in the
sector. To begin with personal motivation and experience of care givers are major factors that
significantly influence the pull factors into care jobs. In view of employee informal nature of the
recruitment process encouraged them to use social networks, which provided information about
the available job opportunities and encouraged them to apply. Employers found this form of
recruitment to be more effective since it enabled them to select workers who already had
knowledge of the job specifications and therefore were less likely to exit from the job in the early
days of their engagement due to misconceptions over the nature of the work.
Burke et al. (2014) in their study sought to address the fact that not all nurses that are freshly
appointed are competent in the first stages of their post. The results of their research indicated
that there is a substantial discrepancy in the amount and modes of competence evaluations that
are employed for recruitment, with minimum uniformity in the detail of the evaluations, although
largely similar evaluations exercises are used. Included in the key competencies were several
personal attributes of the job applicants. However, it was not clear as to how these aspects were
assessed during the selection process. Further, there was insignificant information concerning the
validity of measures that were employed and whether in actual sense they are measured the
competences that were required or considered crucial. It can be deduced that practical skills seem
to be assessed easily, but it is not clear how these competencies are assessed to be considered
equally important but they appear to be more elusive to assessment including communication
and teamwork.
Mwangi (2013) in his study sought to evaluate the competency focused recruitment and selection
practices implemented by public hospitals in Kenya. The respondents engaged in the study
argued that competency oriented recruitment processes can be integrated with the traditional
recruitment and selection processes. Respondents acknowledged that competency oriented
recruitment procedures can be integrated to the conventional hiring and selection practices.
Competency based approach to recruitment and selection was reflected as a crucial stage of
HRM processes. The research also found that utilizing a competency based recruitment and
selection system is a results oriented process. The process makes it easier to focus on the results
expected of an exemplary staff.
The study by Muathe and Nyambane (2017) aimed at determining the influence of recruitment
practices on performance of employees in the MoH, Nairobi City County. It was found that
recruitment practices carried out play a vital role in finding out effectiveness and performance of
health workforce. In this case effectiveness can be achieved if the Ministry of Health hires
workers with relevant knowledge, skills and aptitudes. Effective hiring will eventually prevent
unnecessary costs, staff turnover, low performance and demotivated customers.
Kakui (2016) did an investigation about the impacts of development of careers on the performance
of an employee, a case of NCPB. Descriptive survey was employed. NCPB was the target population
whose offices are based in Nairobi. Only 100 respondents were selected to be the sample using the
Stratified random sampling. Questionnaires were used to collect data. Tabulations and analysis
were done through SPSS version 20 software. This study indicated that training improves the
competitiveness of an employee, motivates the employee and also levels down intimidations.
Employees are also capable of networking. This study showed that mentoring does affect the
performances of an employee positively.
According to Hariandja (2015) the placement of employees is the process of assignment /
replenishment of office or reassignment of employees on the task / new office or different
positions. According to Mathis and Jackson (2006) placement is the right job position, how best
the worker matches his job will influence amounts and quality of work. Based on the definition
presented by the experts above, then we can conclude the placement of employees is the activity
of allocating employees certain job positions in accordance with the ability, skills, and expertise
in order to achieve the purpose of the agency.
Aguenza and Mat Som (2012) investigated on the Motivational Factors of Employee Retention
and Engagement in Organizations in Malaysia, 7,500 employees were surveyed through a cross
sectional research design, data was analyzed by use of trend analysis the results of this study
revealed career development programs played an instrumental in influencing employees
retention in the organization. Another study by Kwenin (2013), explored explores the link
between work environment, career development opportunities and employee retention in
Vodafone Ghana Limited. The study used 142 employees, representing 10% of the target
population of 1,420. The study adopted descriptive research survey, specifically cross sectional.
Data was analyzed with Descriptive Statistics. Pearson Correlation Coefficient was employed to
establish the relationship among the variables. The findings indicated that career development
opportunities had positive relationship with employee retention and thus affect employee’s
decision to stay. Lassiter Consulting (2014), conducted a descriptive survey in relation to the
influence of career development program on employee retention, a sample of 50 employees was
chosen from among Fortune 100 companies. Data was analyzed using descriptive statistics, the
results of the analysis showed that career development programs highly contributed to employee
retention.
Makhamara et al. (2016) examined the impact of strategic recruitment and selection on
performance of employees in the health sector, Kenya. Among several indicators studied, the
research showed that fairness and transparency were not observed in recruitment, selection
human resource processes in county public hospitals. These represented a score of approximately
88%. The research also indicated that standardization tests not effectively used during the
recruitment and selection of employees. This variable took the highest proportion. Promotion
within the sector was not taken to be a major factor in determining employee experience score.
The study also revealed that aspects such as employment assessments such as aptitude, skill
tests and mental/cognitive were missing at the county health facilities. Furthermore, though the
respective health facilities had a recruitment and selection policy, it was not operational and as a
result high employee turnover was rampant.
Research Gap
The works from other researchers highlights that various human resource management practices
have been proposed and implemented to address the performance of employees. Whereas
literature indicates that increasing human resource management practices increases performance,
the case of healthcare workers specifically nurses have not been assessed. There are limited
studies on HRM practices influencing effectiveness in healthcare and the performance. Further
still, there are no studies that have considered the aspects of healthcare workers career
development, compensation, performance appraisals and recruitment with direct effect on the
performance of the healthcare employees. Thus there exists a knowledge gap on this subject,
particularly in Kenya.
Mwangi (2013) evaluated the competency focused recruitment and selection practices
implemented by public hospitals in Kenya. The study presents a conceptual gap as the current
study widened the scope to career development, compensation, performance appraisals and
recruitment. Mbugua (2014) study on employee’s perception of the influence of human resource
management practices on performance of Kengen presents a contextual gap as it was conducted
in the private sector while the current study was conducted in the public health sector. Kazira
(2014) study on the relationship between human resource development practice and employee
commitment in the retail banking at Standard Chartered Bank (Kenya) further presents a
contextual gap as it was conducted in the banking sector while the current study was conducted
in the public health sector. The study by Wanguku (2016) on the influence of human resource
practices on medical officers’ retention in Nairobi County presents a conceptual gap as the key
variables used were on-boarding process, performance development, talent motivation while the
current study used career development, compensation, performance appraisals and recruitment.
Therefore, this study sought to bridge the gaps by examining the effect of human resource
management practices on employee performance of public hospitals in Kajiado County.
Critique of Literature Review
The section presents the critique of literature review based on the empirical studies. The study by
Manggis, Yuesti and Sapta (2018) on the effect of career development and organizational culture
to employee performance with motivation of work as intervening variable showed that career
development had positive and significant effect to work motivation. The study provides a key
relation on career development and organizational culture towards employee performance.
Nonetheless the relation between career development and organizational culture on employee
motivation and performance can viewed as indirect since the employees may be motivated but
not performing.
The study by Massingham et al. (2015) on human capital, value creation and rewards revealed
that pay needs to be aligned with employee performance and workers to perform challenging,
exciting and interesting jobs to enhance involvement, satisfaction, commitment and loyalty. The
assumption therefore is that the higher the employee rewards the better the performance as
supported by the social exchange theory. However, in some situations there are workers who
earn less but are happy, committed, loyal, motivated and more productive creating inequity in the
distributive justice. The study by Vasset, Marnburg and Furunes (2018) studied the effects of
performance appraisal in the Norwegian municipal health services found that all the subordinates
perceived higher job motivation after performance appraisal than managers. However, the
findings may prove different in a diverse setting such as that of a developing country like Kenya.
The study by Burke et al. (2014) finds that not all nurses that are freshly appointed are competent
in the first stages of their post. However, it is not clear as to how these aspects were assessed
during the selection process. It can be deduced that practical skills seem to be assessed easily, but
it is not clear how these competencies are assessed to be considered equally important but they
appear to be more elusive to assessment including communication and teamwork. In addition,
Self-efficacy theory evidence consists of correlations between self-efficacy ratings and other
behaviors. Such response-response relationships do not unequivocally establish that one response
causes another.
2.1 Conceptual Framework
The conceptual framework aids the reader to see at a glance the proposed relationships between
the variables in the study graphically or diagrammatically. Figure 2.1 depicts the relationship
Figure 2.1: Conceptual Framework
between human resource management practices and its components such as career development,
compensation, performance appraisals and recruitment and performance of employees.
Independent Variables Dependent Variable
(Human Resource management Practices) (Employee Performance)
Operationalization of Variables’
The study operationalization of variables illustrates how the study independent and dependent
variables was measured. This was as indicated in Table 1.
Recruitment
Recruitment policy
Employee motivation
Human resource planning
Cost of recruitment
Performance appraisals
Evaluation of employee skills
Performance standards
Performance feedback
Recognition schemes
Employee Performance
Efficiency
Quality of service
Productivity
Timelines in service delivery
Compensation
Fringe benefits
Medical benefits
Retirement plans
Perks
Career Development
Career progression
Promotions
Talent building
Networking
Table 1: Operationalization of Variables
Variables Operational Indicators Measure Type of Scale
Career
Development
Career progression
Promotions
Talent building
Networking
5-point Likert Type
Scale
Interval Scale
Compensation Fringe benefits
Medical benefits
Retirement plans
Perks
5-point Likert Type
Scale
Interval Scale
Performance
appraisals
Evaluation of
employee skills
Performance standards
Performance feedback
Recognition schemes
5-point Likert Type
Scale
Interval Scale
Recruitment Recruitment policy
Employee motivation
Human resource planning
Cost of recruitment
5-point Likert Type
Scale
Interval scale
Employee
Performance
Efficiency
Quality of service
Productivity
Timelines in service delivery
5-point Likert Type
Scale
Interval scale
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