Abstract:
In recent years, there have been attempts to import business models from the private sector into higher education systems and institutions in an attempt to improve their performance. This has led to the emergence of a debate on the applicability of the Quality Management System(QMS) principles, methodologies and tools to the higher education sector and their relationship with performance of those institutions. There exists a lot of research on the importance of the Quality Management System and how it impacts on performance of organizations in general. However, there is little research that specifically focuses on the influence of QMS on the relationship between internal factors and performance of Kenyan public universities. This study sought to establish the influence of the Quality Management System on the relationships between funding mobilization, administrative systems, infrastructure, and admission on the performance of Kenyan public universities. The study sought to investigate influence of the combined internal factors (funding, administrative, infrastructure and Admission systems) and the performance of Kenyan public universities. The study adopted survey research design which made it easy to sample and analyse data. Seven certified public sponsored universities published by the Commission for Higher Education in Kenya were sampled. Structured questionnaires were used in the collection of data. A pilot study was conducted to check for the reliability and validity of the research instruments. SPSS software was used in analyzing and interpreting data that was collected. The findings of this study demonstrated that QMS played a significant influencing role between each of the individual internal factors and the performance of Kenyan public universities. Infrastructure systems had the highest coefficient of determination, R2 factor compared to all the other internal factors. This meant that infrastructure systems, with the influence of QMS as a moderating factor had the highest positive contribution to the change in the performance of Kenyan public universities. This was followed by Admission Systems, administrative systems and funding mobilization, respectively. The results from this study will be beneficial to a range of beneficiaries: scholars in the subject of management; researchers who will use the results as a contribution towards the advancement of knowledge in the subject area; Government officials and university management will in particular, benefit from the knowledge on the linkages between QMS and its influence on internal factors and the performance of public universities in Kenya. The study recommended that for public universities to realize the dreams of a majority of Kenyans as envisioned in Vision 2030 and the Kenyan constitution, they should proactively adopt QMS in their operations across all internal factors in order to improve their performances. The study proposed two future studies.
