Abstract
This study sought to contribute to knowledge by assessing the moderating effect of resource conditions on the relationship between linkage strategies and performance of universities in Kenya. Resource based view was used as the main theory anchoring the study. Cross-Sectional survey was adopted as the research design. The population of the study consists of sixty five (65) public and private universities incorporated in Kenya. Out of this, a sample of forty seven (47) universities which had undergone at least one graduation cycle was taken. Primary and secondary data was collected using semi-structured questionnaires and review of existing university documents and regulatory bodies’ websites respectively. Correlation and regression analyses were carried out to analyse data and to test hypotheses. Although it was not possible to include all the determinants of institutional performance, balanced score card was appropriately used to represent financial and non-financial aspects that constitute performance indicators. It was established that resource conditions have enhancing moderating effect on the relationship between linkage strategies and university performance in Kenya. The significance of firm resources and linkage components in strategy formulation and implementation cannot be overlooked. The key recommendation that the study offers as insights to theory, university authorities and policy makers, is the need to consider firm resource conditions as critical determinants during strategy formulation and implementation process in order to enhance university performance. The main limitation of this study is that primary data was collected from only one respondent per university but common methods bias was mitigated through the use of additional secondary data to validate primary data.
Highlights
1.1 Research ProblemThere have been attempts to examine the relationships among resource conditions, strategy, and performance
The test results on the first hypothesis shows that there exists a significant relationship between linkage strategies and organisational performance
This confirms that performance of a firm can only be accurately measured in terms of its linkage with the economic sector that it serves and not in isolation, such that the more linkage aspects are fused in the strategies the better the performance of a university
Summary
There have been attempts to examine the relationships among resource conditions, strategy, and performance. The heightened debate on competitive forces attempt to explain why some firms perform better than others within the same industry. Careful choice of strategy and appropriate implementation, taking resource conditions into consideration, should contribute to enhanced organizational performance. Not all resources are of equal importance or possess the potential to be a source of sustainable competitive advantage (Wernerfelt, 1984). This argument implies that a firm may have many resources that can be strategically utilised to improve firm performance, but appropriate choice must be made to identify specific resources that can provide superior firm performance. Vol 12, No 9; 2017 emerging strong calls for collaboration between the productive sector and higher learning institutions
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