PERFORMANCE CONTRACTING AND SERVICE DELIVERY IN COAST REGION TECHNICAL AND VOCATIONAL EDUCATION TRAINING INSTITUTIONS-KENYA
Abstract
This study studied the relationship between performance contracting and service delivery in public Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) institutions under the national government in Kenya’s Coast Region. The research was anchored on four key components of performance contracting: goal setting, target communication, performance appraisal & monitoring and evaluation. A descriptive research design was employed, targeting all the 20 accredited public TVET institutions as of January 2023, with data collected from 80 senior staff of these TVET institutions. Each institution had 4 participants (Principal, Registrar, performance contracting coordinator and the finance officer). Data was collected using structured questionnaires and was administered through the drop and pick later method by trained research assistants. Once the questionnaires were received from the data collection exercise, they were entered into a statistical software in readiness for analysis. Data analysis was conducted using SPSS Version 27, employing descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation & multiple regression analysis, with robustness checks for reliability and validity. The study established that goal setting, target communication, performance appraisal & monitoring and evaluation significantly influenced service delivery in TVET institutions in the Coast Region, with respondents indicating that these practices were clearly defined, well aligned & consistently applied. The findings showed that structured performance contracting improved staff motivation, accountability & feedback processes, although limitations were observed in staff participation in goal formulation and in the linkage between appraisal outcomes and tangible rewards. The study concluded that effective implementation of performance contracting components enhanced overall institutional service delivery. It was recommended that TVET institutions strengthen inclusive goal-setting processes, improve the timeliness of feedback & reinforce the connection between performance appraisal results and reward systems to sustain performance improvements. Further research was recommended to investigate additional factors affecting service delivery, as performance contracting explained 58% (R² = 0.580) of the variation in institutional service delivery.
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