HUMAN CAPITAL AND CUSTOMER SERVICE ON PERFORMANCE OF PUBLIC HOSPITALS IN KIRINYAGA COUNTY, KENYA

Abstract

Organizations differ in terms of availability, amount and quality of strategically relevant intangible resources. The extent to which these resources can translate into superior performance in specific organizations is still not well understood by most organizations. Most Sub-Saharan African countries are constrained by resource scarcity which undermines the implementation of decentralized public services. In competing with other public services for scarce resources, the health sector is often ranked relatively low among national development priorities. According to the Ministerial Strategic Plan 2014/18, challenges in the Kenyan health environment include limited resources, inefficiencies in utilizing available resources and weak regulatory systems. This study sought to investigate the effect of human capital and customer service on the performance of public hospitals in Kirinyaga County, Kenya. The study was anchored on the Resource Based View and Institutional theory. The study used descriptive research design and targeted 92 respondents drawn from 23 departments in the respective four public hospitals. A census was carried out and data was collected through structured questionnaires, analyzed through descriptive and inferential analysis and reliability checked using Cronbach’s alpha reliability index. The study established that human capital and customer service had a positive significant effect on performance of public hospitals in Kirinyaga County. The study concluded that hospitals that invest in human capital and customer service will perform better than those who do not. The study recommended further studies on the resources with the use of a moderating factor.