Assessment of Career Development on Employee Performance in Private Health Sector in Isiolo County

Abstract

Developing employees for future positions enables organizations to develop and place employees in positions compatible with their career interests, needs, and goals. However, most previous studies on career development did not focus on the private sector. It is against these that the study sought to assess the influence of career development on employee performance in the private sector in Isiolo County, Kenya. The study was anchored under social exchange theory: job embeddedness theory and burnout theory of engagement. The study adopted a descriptive survey design that targeted 397 private medical practitioners in Isiolo County. Stratified and basic random sampling methods were used to choose the population sample of 199 respondents. A standard questionnaire was used as a tool for data collection. The validity and reliability of the questionnaire were calculated using test-retest methods on a sample pilot of 20 medical practitioners chosen from private hospitals in Isiolo County. They were not included in the main study and computed using the alpha coefficient of Cronbach and supervisor guidance. The study established an alpha coefficient of 0.831. A mixed-method approach was used to collect both Qualitative and quantitative data Frequencies, means, and standard deviations were given by descriptive analysis. Multiple linear regression analyses were used to base inferential statistics. ANOVA was used as inferential tools to evaluate the relationship between the study variables with the help of IBM Statistical Package for Social Sciences (IBM SPSS) version 24. Descriptive results indicated a majority of the employees strongly agreed that there are coaching and mentorship programs for career development (M=4.50, SD=1.229). However, there were mixed reactions to the existence of a well-established career path planning aligned with personal goals and interests in the organization where most of the employees remained neutral (M = 3.36, SD = 1.215). With a regression analysis established an R squared of 62.1%, the study suggested another study to establish the other factors that contribute 37.9% to employee performance in the private health sector in Isiolo County.