THE MODERATION EFFECT OF PERSONAL FACTORS ON THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN PERFORMANCE CONTRACTING AND SERVICE DELIVERY OF EMPLOYEES IN HUDUMA CENTRES IN WESTERN KENYA

Abstract

The Kenyan Government mounted the following efforts to improve service delivery: privatization, voluntary early retirement, and restructuring, but the results were not good, thereby opting for performance contracting using Huduma Centers. The 30,000 customers are served at the centres daily and collected Kshs 12 billion annually as revenue, as shown in a report by Government 2020. Past studies on performance contracting influencug service delivery were mostly case studies and not surveys. There were mixed outcomes from the reviewed literature, a sign of a moderator impact yet to be tested, and there were no evidence for examining personal characteristics to demonstrate their moderation effect. The impact of personal factors on the relationship between performance contracting and service delivery, on the other hand, has not been sufficiently explored. This study aimed to establish the moderation effect of personal factors on the relationship between performance contracting and service delivery. The study utilized an ex-post factor design with quantitative aspects. A questionnaire was used to gather data from a target population of 276. The data analysis was done quantitatively to establish the moderation effect. The results showed that personal factors (R2=0.125; p=0.000) positively and significantly influenced the association by 12.5 %. The study revealed that personal characteristics positively modified the association. The study recommends that managers and policymakers consider personal factors to enhance service delivery. The implication of this study for theory is that it would result in theory refinement by emphasizing the integration of personal factors in the performance contracting framework while opening research fronts for the future by recommending cross-sectoral studies that are qualitative to be carried out to gain insights into the variations of moderations of personal factors. Keywords: personal factors, performance contracting, service delivery, huduma centres, moderation effect.