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 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. The purpose of the study was to determine the influence of performance appraisal on employee performance in public service in Kenya. Specifically, the study sought to examine: influence of consistency of performance appraisal on employee performance, influence of accuracy of performance appraisal on employee performance and influence of fairness in performance appraisal on employee performance. The study was anchored on goal setting theory and control theory. Correlational research design was adopted. The population comprised of 250 Public Service officers from the Ministry of Interior and Coordination of National Government of Kenya within Kisumu County. Stratified, simple random sampling was used to pick a sample of 154 respondents. Data were collected from both primary and secondary sources. The primary data for the study came from questionnaires, while secondary data were gathered through official government documents obtained from government offices, library research and internet search. Validity of the instruments was ascertained through expert opinion and revision. Reliability ranged between 0.75 and 0.83 Cronbach's Alpha implying that all items in the questionnaire were reliable. Descriptive statistics represented mean scores and standard deviation while regression analysis evaluated relationships between the independent and dependent variables. The finding revealed that 87.9% variation in employee performance accounted for by the combined performance appraisal attributes (R2 = 0.87, p=.OOO). The study further established consistency of performance appraisal had a positive contribution on employee performance (~=.120, p=.031), accuracy of performance appraisal had a positive and significant contribution to employee performance (p=.203, p=.OOl) while fairness of performance appraisal had a unique positive and significant contribution to employee performance (~=.683, p=.OOO).The study concluded that, consistency, accuracy and fairness of performance appraisal were all critical antecedents of employee performance. The study therefore recommended to the policy makers in Public Service to ensure that performance appraisal were consistent, accurate and fair since the variables had significant contribution to employee performance. The findings of the study may enable policy makers in the Public Service to come up with measures that would ensure the performance appraisal was consistent, accurate and fair in order to improve employee performance.