Abstract:
Many organizations in Kenya in both private and public sector face dynamics in their
operating environments. The public entities in the country are the most prone to these
changes given their reactionary strategies and slow response to change. Rural
Electrification Authority is one of parastatals in Kenya whose services have led to
lightening of rural areas in Kenya. It has been noted that there is a glaring human
resource problem at the corporation in terms of competencies, size of staff, employee
motivation, staff development, procedures, and practices among other challenges. One
of the solutions to this is that outsourcing certain human resource functions is bound
to enable a firm to leverage its expertise and focus more on its core activities. The
general objective of the study was to evaluate the influence of outsourcing human
resource activities on employee engagement at Rural Electrification Authority. The
variables of the study included recruitment outsourcing, training outsourcing, and
payroll outsourcing. The study was conducted across the five departments of Rural
Electrification Authority at the head offices in Nairobi. The study was guided by two
theories and a model namely; Kolb’s experiential learning theory, socio-technical
systems theory and Andrew Brown engagement pyramid model. The study adopted a
descriptive survey design using quantitative approaches. The study targeted 114
employees. The study used Nassiuma’s formula to calculate the sample which was
found to be 54. This study used a structured questionnaire to collect data. The
research instrument was first pilot tested to assess both its validity and reliability. The
Statistical Package for Social Sciences Version 23 software facilitated data processing
and analysis. Both descriptive and inferential statistics were used in the analysis. The
study revealed that outsourcing of payroll had the greatest influence on employee
engagement. More so, it was found that the outsourcing recruitment services had a
negative influence on employee engagement. When recruitment, training, and payroll
were outsourced together, their influence on employee engagement was found to be
significant. The study recommended that Rural Electrification Authority should
minimize the level of outsourcing of recruitment services while simultaneously
increasing outsourcing of both training and payroll services as means of enhancing
employee engagement in the corporation.
