Reforms in banking industry have brought about many structural changes in the sector and encouraged competition. As a result, financial institutions like SACCOs have adopted competitive strategies including innovation strategies. Despite the recognized importance of financial innovation and an extensive descriptive literature, there have been surprisingly few empirical studies. This situation has denied SACCOs the much needed information regarding this important area of financial innovations sometimes leading to reverse causality in the innovation-financial performance relationship. The purpose of this study was to investigate innovative strategies and the performance of SACCOs in Nyeri County, Kenya. The study was guided by the following objectives: to establish how product innovation influences the performance, to assess the influence of organizational innovation on the performance, to determine the influence of process innovation on the performance of SACCOs, and to find out how marketing innovation affect the performance of SACCOs. The study utilized descriptive research design. It was carried out as a Census among the 6 licensed SACCOs in Nyeri County. The main instruments for primary data collection were questionnaires which consisted of structured and unstructured questions. The data was then analyzed using descriptive statistics and inferential statistics. Multiple regression was done to determine the relationship between the dependent and independent variables. The study findings were presented in tables and charts. Based on the findings of the study, it was concluded that the four independent variables (product innovation, organizational innovation, process innovation and marketing innovation) were important predictors of performance of SACCOs since each was statistically significant. The findings showed a positive correlation between the independent variables and the dependent variable. The study recommends that SACCOs should find creative ways of adopting and implementing product innovation but within the rules and guidelines of the banking industry. Organizational innovation could be improved through the human resource department getting better ways of freedom and autonomy among the employees. The services within the financial intermediaries in the SACCO should also be improved to become more helpful in facilitating the needs of the customers.

Product or service quality has become the driving force of global firms. Customers have becoming more enlightened with products and services that they consume due to access of information. However, it is observed from literature that the concept of quality has continued to evolve due to different attitudinal and perceptional nature of customers. Issues of quality among public organizations and more especially public hospitals in Kenya have continued to raise mixed reactions from different stakeholders such as the members of the public, public benefit organizations and management of County Governments in general. For public hospitals in Kenya to meet the changing needs and wants of their customers, they need to adopt effective quality management strategies in order to surpass customer expectations. The aim of this study was to investigate the influence of quality management strategies on customer satisfaction among public hospitals in Embu County, Kenya. The specific objectives of the study were; to establish the influence of employee training, research and development and employee motivation on customer satisfaction in public hospitals in Embu County, Kenya. The study was informed by the Total Quality Management Theory and supported by the SERVQUAL model and the Open System Theory. The study employed the descriptive research design to investigate the problem that was under study. Target population comprised of 239 respondents. The respondents of the study constituted employees of the six level four public hospitals in Embu County which included Siakago, Runyenjes, Kiritiri, Kianjokoma, Ishiara and Kairuri. Respondents were stratified into four strata and simple random sampling technique was used to select respondents from each strata. The units of analysis were level four public hospitals and unit of observation were employees of public hospitals in Embu County. Primary data was collected using structured questionnaires. Secondary data was obtained from internal management health reports, related articles and minutes of the organization. Validity of the instrument was tested using lecturers and quality management experts working in public hospitals in Kenya and reliability of the instrument was tested using Cronbach Alpha formula. Data was analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics such as regression analysis. Regression analysis was carried out at 95% confidence level and 5% significance level to establish the statistical relationship between variables of the study. The analyzed data was tabulated and presented in the form of means, standard deviation and percentages. The study established that there was a positive statistical relationship between independent variables and the dependent variable because all the independent variables significance values were less than the critical value 0.05. The study concludes that employee training, research and development and employee motivation are key determinants of customer satisfaction in public hospitals in Kenya. The study recommends that unless public hospitals in Kenya recognize the aspect of employee motivation, research and development and employee training, achieving organizational goals will be a difficult task to achieve in the dynamic business environment.

Employee relations is one of the key fundamental elements of organizational performance, prosperity and sustainability. Since good employee relations results in a highly committed, motivated and loyal employees there is need for organizations to develop strategies that will improve performance. Employee relations strategy involves decisions and actions made by the management affecting the way in which the organization relates with its employees. The general objective of this study was to establish the effect of employee relations strategies on the performance of Water and Sewerage service providers in Nairobi Kenya. The Water and Sewerage service provider under study was Nairobi City Water & Sewerage Company, Kenya owing to the fact that it is the largest service provider both in Nairobi and Kenya based on customer base and revenue turnover hence the findings were generalized to the entire population. The study was guided by the following specific objectives; to examine the effect of employee welfare, communication, employee participation and grievance resolution mechanism on the performance of Nairobi City Water & Sewerage Company, Kenya. The study was anchored on four theories; unitarist, pluralist, system and process theories. The study employed a descriptive design. The target respondents were 3534 staff cutting across all cadres. Stratified random sampling was applied to select 10% of respondent from each stratum of; senior managers, middle level managers, supervisors and support staff thus sample population was 354.Primary data was collected using structured questionnaires and analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics and the results presented in tables. The study found that employee welfare, communication, employee participation and grievance resolution as components of employee relations strategies significantly influence organizational performance at Nairobi City Water and Sewerage Company, Kenya and therefore various strategies to strengthen these components of employee relations strategies should be explored and put in place. The multiple regression analysis results indicated that variations in employee relations strategies discussed that is; employee welfare, communication, employee participation and grievance resolution explains 54.8% of the variations on organization performance at Nairobi City Water and Sewerage Company Kenya meaning the other employee relations strategies for training, recruitment among others that influence performance of Nairobi City Water and Sewerage Company. The study recommended that a similar study should be carried out in various organizations in other sectors of the economy to complement the findings. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License. Access, citation and distribution of this article is allowed with full recognition of the authors and the source.

The knowledge, skills, and abilities constituting employee characteristics are often described as the capacity needed by a firm to attain competitive advantage which in turn occasions performance outcomes at various firm’s levels. While evidence of significant and insignificant relationships between ability-enhancing practices and performance outcomes at firm’s levels has been registered across organisational contexts in human resource management literature, such evidence remains limited and anecdotal in the context of criminal justice system in Nigeria. Using a survey data from 321 police officers, this study investigated the interactional effect of justice perception on the relationship between ability-enhancing practices and performance of police force in Nigeria. The study adopted both descriptive and explanatory designs, and the study instruments were adapted. The validity and reliability of the study instruments were determined via Principal Component Analysis, and thereafter data collected were analysed employing both descriptive and inferential statistical methods with the aid of analytical tool of Statistical Package for Social Sciences. The moderating effect of justice perception was established using PROCESS macro and the results were interpreted using Baron and Kenny’s (1986) approach for determining mediation effect. The results of the analysis revealed that the performance of police force in Nigeria was predicted by composite construct of ability enhancing practices, and the relationship was completely moderated by justice perception. The results also revealed significant effects of rigorous recruitment and selection, and coaching on performance of police force, however, insignificant effects of job rotation and mentoring practices were found with performance of police force in Nigeria. The study contributes to the body of empirical knowledge that individual’s perception of fairness of the implemented organisational systems to enhance employee knowledge, skills, and abilities is vital to the attainment of favourable performance outcomes. The institution of Criminal Justice System can leverage on the findings of this study to improve human capital development so as to attain desired performance outcomes.

Purpose: The objective of the study envisaged examining moderating effect of human resource policies on balanced contract and performance of academic staff in selected public universities. Methodology: This study was conducted using descriptive and explanatory research design. Equity theory, proposed by Adams (1963) and regarded as a justice theory, anchored this study.  This study targeted six public universities whose student population are above 15,000 and a minimum of 4 similar schools across the universities. The target population was 6 selected public universities with a population size of 6,271 academic staff. The sample size was 362 academic staff of the selected schools, in the selected public universities. Primary data was collected using a questionnaire, bearing both structured and semi-structured questions. Given that the dependent variable in this study is continuous, multiple linear regression was performed in this investigation.  The hypotheses was tested from the regression model output and presented by way of Υ=β0+ β1Х1 + β2Х2 + β3Х3 + ε. Findings: The study findings demonstrated that human resources policies significantly moderated the relationship between balanced contract and performance of academic staff in selected universities in Kenya. The study concluded that progressive and interactive human resource policies communicate the values the institutions attribute to staff and can cause either sustainable performance of staff or negatively impact on the type of contract between employees and institutions. These policies also affect directly, the performance of staff by determining their level of job satisfaction. Equity theory, asserts that employees attempt to preserve parity between their contributions to a job and the rewards they receive, as compared to others' perceived contributions and incentives. Unique Contribution to Theory, Practice and Policy: The study finally recommends that human resource departments streamline existing HR policies and formulate new policies that will enable recognition of existence of various psychological contracts and provide ways of ensuring employees adopt balanced contracts that will have positive impact on staff performance.