Abstract:
Performance contracting is a freely negotiated performance agreement between a
government, acting as the owner of a public agency and the management of the agency.
It is used in the Kenyan public to measure performance. Local authorities face pressure
to improve service delivery, lower costs become more accountable, customer focused
and responsive to stakeholder needs. It is unclear whether the introduction of
performance contract has improved service delivery for customers. The purpose of the
study was to establish whether performance contracting has enhanced service delivery of
local authorities. A survey was conducted in five local authorities in Kenya. A stratified
random sample of 120 employees was drawn from a population of 43,800 starting with
two-stage sampling. Questionnaires, interviews and document analysis were used for
data collection. Data was analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences.
The study established performance contract resource factors to include: quality of
fundamental statements namely: vision, mission and strategic objectives, availability of
resources for service delivery, organization structures and policies, staff motivation,
education level of employees, expectations of key stakeholders and partnerships and
prioritization of investment. The study established that there was a strong correlation
among readability tests of vision, mission and strategic objectives. Readability test,
Gunning Fog Index, Flesch Kincaid Grade level, and Flesch Reading Ease showed that
vision, mission and objectives of local authorities are difficult to comprehend. A
regression analysis indicated a linear relationship that respondents with higher levels of Performance contracting is a freely negotiated performance agreement between a
government, acting as the owner of a public agency and the management of the agency.
It is used in the Kenyan public to measure performance. Local authorities face pressure
to improve service delivery, lower costs become more accountable, customer focused
and responsive to stakeholder needs. It is unclear whether the introduction of
performance contract has improved service delivery for customers. The purpose of the
study was to establish whether performance contracting has enhanced service delivery of
local authorities. A survey was conducted in five local authorities in Kenya. A stratified
random sample of 120 employees was drawn from a population of 43,800 starting with
two-stage sampling. Questionnaires, interviews and document analysis were used for
data collection. Data was analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences.
The study established performance contract resource factors to include: quality of
fundamental statements namely: vision, mission and strategic objectives, availability of
resources for service delivery, organization structures and policies, staff motivation,
education level of employees, expectations of key stakeholders and partnerships and
prioritization of investment. The study established that there was a strong correlation
among readability tests of vision, mission and strategic objectives. Readability test,
Gunning Fog Index, Flesch Kincaid Grade level, and Flesch Reading Ease showed that
vision, mission and objectives of local authorities are difficult to comprehend. A
regression analysis indicated a linear relationship that respondents with higher levels of Performance contracting is a freely negotiated performance agreement between a
government, acting as the owner of a public agency and the management of the agency.
It is used in the Kenyan public to measure performance. Local authorities face pressure
to improve service delivery, lower costs become more accountable, customer focused
and responsive to stakeholder needs. It is unclear whether the introduction of
performance contract has improved service delivery for customers. The purpose of the
study was to establish whether performance contracting has enhanced service delivery of
local authorities. A survey was conducted in five local authorities in Kenya. A stratified
random sample of 120 employees was drawn from a population of 43,800 starting with
two-stage sampling. Questionnaires, interviews and document analysis were used for
data collection. Data was analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences.
The study established performance contract resource factors to include: quality of
fundamental statements namely: vision, mission and strategic objectives, availability of
resources for service delivery, organization structures and policies, staff motivation,
education level of employees, expectations of key stakeholders and partnerships and
prioritization of investment. The study established that there was a strong correlation
among readability tests of vision, mission and strategic objectives. Readability test,
Gunning Fog Index, Flesch Kincaid Grade level, and Flesch Reading Ease showed that
vision, mission and objectives of local authorities are difficult to comprehend. A
regression analysis indicated a linear relationship that respondents with higher levels of education tended to be more satisfied with utilization of their knowledge and skills. A
second order polynomial relationship indicated that recognition increased with level of
education up to college then dropped for university education level. A significant
majority of respondents support performance contract and agreed that their local
authorities should continue using it to measure performance. The study found that
performance contract was administered annually and monitored through quarterly and
annual submission of reports to the Government for evaluation. From the study,
customer satisfaction, employee satisfaction work environment and revenue generation
were growing. According to Analysis of Variance there is a significant difference in
customer satisfaction among the years while work environment, employee satisfaction
and revenue generation did not differ among the years. A chi-square (χ
that customer satisfaction has increased significantly since the introduction of
performance contracting in the local authorities.
The study concludes that performance contracting has enhanced performance of local
authorities in the areas of customer satisfaction, employee satisfaction and revenue
generation. The performance contract resource factors are: clarity of vision, mission and
objectives, availability of resources, staff motivation, education level, sound policies and
organization structure and clear expectations from parties to performance contract.
Council employees generally have a positive attitude towards performance contracting
and they believe that it contributes to enhanced service delivery. Performance
contracting is administered annually and monitored through submission of quarterly and
annual reports to the Government for evaluation of achievement of targets. Key
2
) test showed challenges are: inadequate resources such as human, financial, material and information,
weak administrative structure, policies and processes. Improvement to PC include:
training of staff on PC to empower them to implement it; strengthen administrative
structure, policies and processes for PC implementation. The study recommends that
local authorities should continue using performance contracting as a tool for monitoring
and improving performance. They should simplify their visions and missions for ease of
understanding by the employees and customers. Local authorities should also provide
adequate resources for implementation of PC.