Influence of performance appraisal on employee performance in public service-Kenya

Abstract

For about a decade and a half, the Government of Kenya put in place measures that included adoption of rapid results initiative and performance contracting aimed at improving efficiency in service delivery. Despite the efforts by the government, the public sector still face the challenge of poor service delivery and declining employee performance as captured by Government of Kenya, Ministry of Public Service and Transparency International reports. Most studies on performance appraisal and employee performance have established a significant relationship between performance appraisal and employee performance. The studies focused on performance goals, planning, monitoring and feedback, communication, rating standards, training and development, reward system, appraisal process, and employees’ perceptions. However, the studies did not determine whether consistency, accuracy and fairness of performance appraisal had influence on employees’ performance. It is for this reason that this study seeks to determine the influence of performance appraisal on employee performance in public service in Kenya. Specifically, the study seeks to examine: influence of consistency of performance appraisal on employee performance, influence of accuracy of performance appraisal on employee performance and influence of fairness of performance appraisal on employee performance. The study will be anchored on goal setting theory and control theory. Correlational research design will be adopted. The population will comprise 250 Public Service officers from the ministry of interior and coordination of national government within Kisumu County. Stratified, simple random sampling will be used to pick a sample of 154 respondents. Data will be collected from both primary and secondary sources. The primary data for the study shall come from questionnaires, while secondary data will be gathered through official government documents obtained from government offices, library research and internet search. Validity of the instruments will be ascertained through expert opinion and revision. Reliability will be tested on 10 conveniently chosen respondents and ascertained through Cronbach’s Alpha where an alpha greater than 0.7 will indicate reliability. Data will be analysed using regression analysis to determine the influence of effective performance appraisal on employee performance. The findings of the study may enable policy makers in the public service identify shortcomings of the current appraisal system and come up with measures that would improve employee performance.