Abstract:
The purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of human resource
management practices on the performance of employees of research institutes in
Kenya. The specific objectives of the study were to determine how recruitment
and selection, training and development, reward system, human resource planning
and staff welfare influence employee performance in research institutes in Kenya.
When good HRM practices are employed in an organization, it enhances
employees’ productivity, thus the achievement of organizational goals. As the
world is becoming more competitive and unstable than before, organizations are
seeking to gain more competitive edge at all cost and are turning to more innovate
sources through HRM practices. The study adopted descriptive and correlational
research designs. Stratified random sampling technique was used in the study
while the study population consisted of all the employees in the selected cadres of
all Government owned research institutes. whose total number was 986. The
target population consisted of 760 employees while the sample size consisted of
255 employees. Linear regression analysis was used to establish the relationship
between independent variables and dependent variable. Statistical package for
social sciences (SPSS) version 20 was used to analyze quantitative data while
qualitative data was analyzed through the use of questionnaires. t-test was
conducted to test the significance of independent variables with the dependent
variable at 5% level of significance. The Pearson correlation computation between
all the independent variables and the dependent variable were highly significant
at; recruitment and selection - 0.071, reward system - 0.791; training and
development and staff welfare-0.000; human resource planning-0.049. The study
findings indicate that training and development, human resource planning, staff
welfare and recruitment and selection have a positive influence on employee
performance. These findings suggest that there is a need for research institutes to
adopt and consistently implement appropriate human resource planning,
recruitment and selection, training and development as well as staff welfare in
order to deliver on their mandates. The study recommends further research on
other factors that may have an influence on employee performance.
