Technical and vocational education programmes and training are meant to respond to the needs of different types of industries, besides the different training needs of learners from different socioeconomic and academic backgrounds, as well as preparing the learners for gainful employment and sustainable livelihoods. Despite the introduction of performance appraisal in TVETs, service delivery among TVETs in Bungoma County is still wanting. The structure of service delivery in TVETs puts more emphasis on processes compliance as opposed to results. Performance appraisal has been identified in organizations as an important strategy that has the potential of improving productivity in organizations [1]. According to Van and Schodl [2], “Performance Appraisal (PA) refers to the methods and processes used by organizations to assess the level of performance of their employees and to provide them with a feedback. This process can be used for both developmental and administrative.” According to Newstrom [3], “it is the process of evaluating the performance of employees, sharing that information to them and searching for ways to improve their performance.” Newstrom [3] adds that, “this process should start with the setting of an objective for appraisal, establishing job expectations, designing an appraisal tool, appraising performance, interrogating the performance and subsequently using appraisal data for appropriate purposes.” This can be executed using an external appraisal approach, internal appraisal approach or by focusing on the work standards approach. 

Louise and Moshe [4] carried a study on performance management systems and the Reality of Canadian Healthcare Organizations (HCO's). The focus was to analyse the effect of appraisal as the main component of performance management system on service delivery of healthcare   organizations   in   Canada.   The    methodology involved use of “individual and interdisciplinary team feedback through posting of outcome indicators, discussions regarding their meaning and their connection to the HCO's scorecard. Once expectations are clear, electronic forms completed by both staff and manager will also facilitate the process.” Findings indicated that, “20% of employee appraisals in Healthcare Organizations are effective in accomplishing their intended purpose.” This study sets the context to TVETs then assesses the effect of performance appraisal on service delivery.

Eneanya [5] carried a study on the relationship between performance management system and public service delivery in Nigeria. This study secondary sources of data collection, such as public service reforms, textbooks, journal articles, newspapers and the internet. Data analysis techniques adopted include content, thematic, historical and secondary data analyses. The results show that, “there was inconsistent and contradictory reforms from one regime to another; absence of clear indices of measurement; lack of employees’ engagement; use of traditional line item and zero-based budgeting systems instead of performance-based budgeting system and that incentives do not build into performance management.”

Malowa [6] carried a study on performance management and health service delivery in the local governments of Uganda. The study used a mixed method or simply triangulation method. Quantitative analysis was minimally used to compliment the qualitative analysis. Purposive sampling was used in which case key informants were purposively selected based on knowledge and expertise in respective fields of specialization. The finding indicated that, “modern performance management initiatives in the healthcare delivery system can be supported to perform better by introducing performance contracts to public officers and that performance appraisals against set contracts put the employee on his or her toes to deliver in a timely manner.” 

Chegenye et al. [7] did a research on the, “Role of Performance Management System on Service Delivery in Kakamega County General Hospital, Kenya.” Descriptive case study design was adopted with a target population of 300 health staff on permanent terms. The population was categorized into respective stratum based on stratified random sampling. Simple random sampling over and above purposive sampling were used to select respondents to participate in the study. Closed-ended questionnaires was used to collect data. Quantitative and qualitative analysis was used aided by SPSS. The finding showed that appraisal against set targets would improve service delivery of staff. The study however analysed target setting and used it to infer the effects of performance appraisal on service delivery. This study incorporates performance appraisal then looks at its effect on service delivery.

Statement of the Problem 

The promulgation of 2010 constitution of Kenya led to the establishment of County governments but with significant poor performance in terms of service delivery. Since the year 2010, several initiatives have been put in place by the Kenyan Government with an objective to improve service delivery [8]. Performance appraisal is one such initiative. This is in tandem with the notion that what is measured gets done. Performance appraisal was expected to increase the levels of responsibility, service delivery and accountability besides client satisfaction. This however, has not been effective since most county governments had very weak accountability frameworks. Technical and Vocational Educational Training Colleges (TVETS) are equally experiencing financial constrains that affect the delivering of the planned outcomes. TVETs are expected to implement performance appraisal in their operations in order to raise the standards of the services they offer [8]. Despite the introduction of performance appraisal in TVETs, service delivery among TVETs in Bungoma County is still wanting. The structure of service delivery in TVETs puts more emphasis on processes compliance as opposed to results. Principals display cultural orientation of bosses as opposed to service providers to the citizens. This raise concerns on the role played by performance contracts on improving service delivery. Additionally, there is no empirical evidence that TVETs in Bungoma County are adhering to the stipulated measures and standards, especially in terms of service delivery. This study therefore, sought to bridge this gap by examining the influence of performance appraisal on service delivery in Bungoma County, Kenya.

Theoretical Framework 

This study was premised on the following theories: Goal, Attribution and Human needs theories.

Goal Theory

Performance Appraisal-Service deliver relationship model can be explained based on the Goal Theory which states that, “employees are motivated by clear goals and appropriate feedback [9].” That working towards a goal provides a major source of motivation. Challenging and specific goals accompanied by feedback lead to higher levels of individual and group performance. The prime axiom of this theory is that specific difficult goals lead to higher performance than when people strive to simply do their best [10]. Such goals positively affect performance of an individual and direct people’s efforts and energies in a particular direction. That there was a relationship between how difficult and specific a goal was and people’s performance of a task. Difficult and specific goals lead to better task performance than vague and easy goals. In his research, Locke and Latham [9] found out that for goals to be motivational, they should have the following characteristics: They must be specific in terms of level and time frame. General goals which lack specifity tend not to be motivational; that goals must be challenging to be motivational. They should not be easy that they require little effort to achieve and they should not be so difficult that they are impossible to achieve; that goals must be accompanied by feedback so that it is possible to know how well one is doing and how close is to the goal accomplishment and that people must accept the goals and be committed to them.

Performance Appraisal is premised on the tenets of goal theory in that the targets are specific based on the organization’s strategic plans. They are also Measurable, Attainable, Realistic and Time bound (SMART) in nature thus offering clarity to the employees. The targets are challenging in that they are incremental in nature hence difficulty and complexity of achieving is raised every cycle of the Performance Appraisal leading to increased performance and productivity from the employees. The employees are regularly provided with feedback on their performance through the quarterly performance evaluation reports and the comprehensive evaluation done at the end of the contract period. The feedback enables the employees to assess themselves and adjust their strategies and efforts to meet the targets. The employees are involved in the target setting and negotiations of the Performance Appraisal with their supervisors on the performance and achievement of the goals. This leads to acceptance and ownership of the process which in turn enhances employees’ commitment and persistence towards the achievement of the targets.

Attribution Theory by B. Weiner

Interpersonal influence is widely recognized as a major determinant of consumer behaviour. It is typically considered at the sociological level of group membership (social class, subcultures, etc.) [11]. Psycho logical studies at the individual process level have been less common. In fact, there seem to have been only three types of studies at the process level. One type has examined the relationship between direct group pressure and product evaluations. A second type of study has focused on more indirect social influence. Interpersonal determinants are construed to be perceived attributes of the product (status, masculinity, etc.). A third type of study has arisen in connection with the normative belief’s component of attitude model. Normative beliefs contain information about what other people think the consumer ought to do, i.e., social norms. These beliefs determine behaviour along with attitude. Similarly, normative beliefs are related to a construct termed as "social compliance." This construct represents the individual's readiness to be influenced by others by virtue of social rewards and costs. The theory argues that perspectives dwell on conditions which determine whether a behaviour is attributed to internal, personal causes or to external forces. In general, individuals are biased toward internal attributions. That is, they tend to see the dispositions (traits, preferences, etc.) of an actor as causing the actor's behaviour, [11]. In reality the theory posits that there is a strong relation between self-concept and achievement. In this case, the study examines whether the concepts put forth as PC for colleges in Bungoma County are attainable.

Maslow's Theory of Human Needs

In most of the known societies, chronic extreme hunger of the emergency type is rare, rather than common. In any case, this is still true in the United States. The average American citizen is experiencing appetite rather than hunger when he says "I am hungry." He is apt to experience sheer life-and-death hunger only by accident and then only a few times through his entire life [12]. Obviously, a good way to obscure the 'higher' motivations and to get a lopsided view of human capacities and human nature, is to make the organism extremely and chronically hungry or thirsty. Anyone who attempts to make an emergency picture into a typical one and who will measure all of man's goals and desires by his behaviour during extreme physiological deprivation is certainly being blind to many things. It is quite true that man lives by bread alone-when there is no bread. But what happens to man's desires when there is plenty of bread and when his belly is chronically filled. The theory is relevant as it will be used to explain whether the performance appraisal involved the workers in terms of rewarding them or not. If it did what was the gauge under which they used to motivate the employees and to what extend were they hungry in achieving the set goals.

Descriptive survey design was adopted since it allowed the study to generate both numerical and descriptive data that was used in measuring relations between variables. The study was conducted in Bungoma County, Kenya which neighbours Kakamega, Transnzoia, Busia and Siaya Counties. This study focused on three major Technical Colleges in the County, namely Sang’alo, Matili and Kisiwa Technical Colleges. The target population for this study was 250 Tutors and 130 non-teaching staff from the three Technical Colleges in Bungoma County namely: Sang’alo Institute of Science and Technology, Kisiwa Technical Training Institute and Matili Technical Training Institute. Krejcie and Morgan [13] table was used to select a sample size of 191 and subsequently, proportionate sampling was used within each stratum. Primary data was collected with the use of the structured questionnaires. Reliability analysis was conducted to test for reliability index of the questionnaire items. Cronbach’s alpha reliability coefficients of all the constructs were above 0.7 thus, the test items were deemed reliable. The content validity index was also above 0.7. Data was analysed using descriptive (mean, frequency percentage and standard deviation) and inferential statistics (Pearson Correlation and Regression Analysis) based on the hypothesis that: H₀1: Performance appraisal has no statistically significant effect on service delivery of public TVETS in Bungoma County, Kenya.

This was the fourth objective was to establish the effect of performance appraisal on service delivery in Public Technical and Vocational Educational Training Colleges. The results were as put on Table 1.

Table 1 shows a correlation coefficient (R) of 0.599 shows that performance appraisal has a positive association to service delivery of Public Technical and Vocational Educational Training Colleges. An R-square change of 0.359 was obtained implying that 35.9% of the change observed in service delivery of Public Technical and Vocational Educational Training Colleges was accounted for by performance appraisal. 

The hypothesis (H₀1) stated that there is no significant effect between performance appraisal on service delivery of Public Technical and Vocational Educational Training Colleges. The results in Table 

1, however show that there was a statistically significant effect   of   performance   appraisal  on  service  delivery  of

Table 1: Regression Results of Performance Appraisal and Service Delivery

Source: Field Data, (2020), a. Dependent Variable: Service Delivery, b. Predictors: (Constant): Performance Appraisal

Public Technical and Vocational Educational Training Colleges (β = 0.684; p = 0.040). The null hypothesis that, “there was a statistically significant effect of performance appraisal on service delivery of Public Technical and Vocational Educational Training Colleges,” was rejected and the alternate accepted. Considering the unstandardized Beta coefficients and the constant, the following model relationship was obtained:

Y = 0.427+0.684X

where, Y is the service delivery of Public Technical and Vocational Educational Training Colleges, X4 is the performance appraisal. From the model, if performance appraisal is manipulated by one unit, there would be a corresponding change in service delivery of Public Technical and Vocational Educational Training Colleges by 0.684 units as indicated in Table 1. This finding compares well with that of Louise and Moshe [4], Eneanya [5], Malowa [6] and Chegenye et al. [7]. The result provides information about how well a process is being conducted and how good the results from it are. Areas emphasized through performance appraisal do receive attention and resources. In recent years, the development has been towards operational parameters for performance measurement like quality, cost, speed, reliability and flexibility as opposed to financial. The most important thing when implementing a strategy is the top management’s commitment to the strategic direction itself. This is undoubtedly a prerequisite for strategy implementation. Therefore, top managers must demonstrate their willingness to give energy and loyalty to appraisal implementation process. In the same regard, Kenya has adopted a theoretically sound institutional arrangement. The vetting of Performance Contracts at the beginning of every year and the evaluation of agency performance at the end of every year is done by a group of independent professionals. This is in keeping with international best practice. The persons who do the appraisal must fully understand the rationale for the same.

The fourth objective was about performance appraisal and service delivery. The researcher sought to find out the opinion of the respondents about whether they agree or disagree with the statement that the internal appraisal is practiced in colleges. Out of 188 respondents, 82% agreed that internal appraisal improves service delivery in the Institute while 18% disagreed. About 58% of respondents agreed that external appraisal improves service delivery in the Institute, though 42% disagreed. 89% of respondents agreed that setting work standards systems improves service delivery in the Institute while 11% disagreed. 70% of respondents agreed that performance appraisal improves service delivery in an institution, though 30% disagreed. 79% of respondents agreed that performance appraisal influence service delivery in the institute, though 21% disagreed. The hypothesis (H₀1) stated that there is no statistically significant effect between performance appraisal on service delivery of Public Technical and Vocational Educational Training Colleges. The results, however, show that there was a statistically significant effect of performance appraisal on service delivery of Public Technical and Vocational Educational Training Colleges (β = 0.684; p = 0.040). The null hypothesis that, “there was no statistically significant effect of performance appraisal on service delivery of Public Technical and Vocational Educational Training Colleges,” was rejected and the alternate accepted.

The study concluded that there was a significant statistical effect between monitoring and evaluation on service delivery of Public Technical and Vocational Educational Training Colleges.

The study also recommends the utilization of internal performance appraisal instead of external performance appraisal which was used more. This is based on the fact that internal appraisal is more likely to improve the service delivery since they are participatory.

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