RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN ATTRIBUTES OF SCHOOL ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE AND STUDENTS’ ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE IN PUBLIC SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN MAKUENI COUNTY, KENYA

Abstract

The performance of students in Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) in Makueni County has been dismal. There have been various dialogues at county and sub- county levels on how to remedy the situation, but the consensus still lacks. There is no convergence in empirical literature as to whether organizational culture affect performance owing to mixed findings. The general objective of this research was to ascertain the nexus between the attributes of school organizational culture and student academic performance of public schools in Makueni County, Kenya. The specific objectives were to: investigate the influence of the mission statement on students’ academic performance in public secondary schools in Makueni County, Kenya; to explore the effect of the vision statement on the students’ academic performance in public secondary schools in Makueni County, Kenya; determine the influence of adhocracy culture on the students’ academic performance in public secondary schools in Makueni County, Kenya and to examine the effect of market-oriented culture on the students’ academic performance in public secondary schools in Makueni County. This research employed descriptive survey design. The study is grounded on organizational culture assessment and organizational configuration theories. Regarding philosophical orientation, the study is grounded on positivist research paradigm. The target population comprised 114 public secondary schools in Makueni County. The researcher adopted proportionate stratified sampling technique to select the desired sample size of 1,140 respondents. A structured questionnaire and a checklist were used to collect data. A pilot study was conducted using respondents from 10 schools from the target population which was not included in the final sample. Random sampling was used to identify the 114 schools whereby 570 HODs and 570 students participated in the study. The questionnaires were administered to the respondents with the help of the research assistants. The Cronbach’s alpha was used to evaluate reliability and all items had a coefficient that was < 0.07. Content validity was established by ensuring that the questionnaire items covered all the study objectives. The researcher secured research permit from the National Commission for Science, Technology and Innovation (NACOSTI) to conduct this study. Data was analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. The study findings established that mission statement (β = 0.50, t = 2.93, p < 0.05), vision statement (β = 0.52, t = 3.21, p < 0.05), adhocracy culture (β = 0.56, t = 2.85, p < 0.05) and market-oriented culture (β = 0.54, t = 2.89, p < 0.05) had a positive significant effect on student academic performance from the teacher’s point of view while from the students’ point of view, the mission statement (β = -0.51, t = -3.47, p < 0.05), vision statement coefficient (β = -0.44, t = -3.30, p < 0.05), adhocracy culture (β = -0.53, t = -3.08, p < 0.05) and market-oriented culture (β = -0.50, t = -3.42, p < 0.05) had negative significant effect on the student academic performance. The findings are expected to make valuable contributions to theory propagation, policy formulation and management practice. The study concludes that attributes of the school organizational culture had a significant effect on the student academic performance. The study recommends that future studies should utilize longitudinal datasets; combine both public and private schools while undertaking analogous studies and also go beyond Makueni County to include others counties so as to aid in generalization of the study finding.