A Study In to the Influence of Performance Factors on Performance Ratings: An Institutional Catering Perspective of Public Universities in Western Kenya

Abstract

Catering is an essential service, and thus subsidized to enable equitable and affordable higher education, with the KUCCPS students in focus. However, there has been an outcry from university's management, with some outsourcing their catering services, while others revamping these services under the income generating units (IGU's). This has been due to the increase in demand for university education leading to immense pressure on the catering services as public universities have resolved to open their doors to the Privately Sponsored Programs (PSSPs) concurrent with the Kenya Universities and Colleges Central Placement Services (KUCCPS). This however resulted to unprecedented changes and multiple challenges, basically in provision of catering services, within the institutional catering framework, directly visible on the diminishing performance ratings. This study therefore was guided by four objectives; to investigate the influence of Human Capital on performance ratings of catering services within public universities in western Kenya., to examine the effect of public funding on performance ratings of catering services within public universities in western Kenya., to analyze the impact of the menu on performance ratings of catering services within public universities in western Kenya, and to establish the moderating effect of Government policy on the relationship between the influence of performance factors on performance ratings of catering services within public universities in western Kenya. Data was coded, analyzed and presented via descriptive statistics and inferential statistics. The results of the study shows there is influence of performance factors on performance ratings in catering services within public universities in western Kenya. Consequently, the results of the study depicts there is a moderating effect of government policy on the relationship between performance factors and performance ratings within public universities in western Kenya.