Abstract
This study sought to investigate if the strategic planning process has significant influence on the performance of accredited universities in Kenya. Beyond the strategic plan document, the intensity and formality with which the process of strategic planning is carried out, its extensiveness and inclusiveness, is a concern for organizations in the twenty first century. Performance of accredited universities is conceptualized into growth and ranking as guided by the world standard for performance of tertiary institutions. The study is anchored on the institutional theory and contingency theory and it is founded on the positivist philosophical orientation as it is based on theory. Further, it adopts a descriptive cross sectional survey design. The population of interest were all accredited universities in Kenya as at November 2016. The findings indicate a statistically significant direct relationship between strategic planning process and growth (F=2.605, p=0.047 and R2=.303) and with ranking (F=1.995, p=0.033 and R2=0.218). Engaging university stakeholders in the strategic planning process and focusing the energies of members on the seven key variables of the strategic planning process should be encouraged and enhanced since it has a positive effect on university performance. The formality of the strategic planning process has a negative effect on university performance hence there is need to balance formality with allowing room for creativity to avoid missing out on innovative approaches from university members. Further research into other industries with different performance measures and the use of longitudinal design are recommended as possible areas for further research to enhance generalization of current study findings.
Highlights
Strategic planning process is commonly used by organizations to respond to and manage change
For university performance; 75% of the universities have had moderate to very high growth rate in the last three years with 20% experiencing a growth rate of below 1% per year. 67.5% of the universities ranked top forty in the Kenya ranking which ranked all tertiary institutions in Kenya and only 10% were ranked among the last twenty institutions
Thirty percent of variation of growth at accredited universities in Kenya is explained by strategic planning process as indicated by R2 and this is a moderate relationship
Summary
Strategic planning process is commonly used by organizations to respond to and manage change. In the 1970’s there were drastic and unpredictable changes in the business environment, both internally and externally, which made it impractical for organizations to extrapolate their future from past success leading to the decline in the emphasis laid on planning (Mintzberg, 1978). The 21st century has seen a rise in the need to focus closely, not just on the production of a strategic plan document and have an intense and inclusive process which is formal and comprehensive enough (Chavunduka, Chimunhu, & Sifile 2015). It is not just having a strategic plan for an organization but going through the strategic planning process that counts since strategic planning process formality and intensity may have a possible effect on performance of organizations
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