Talent Management Strategies and Service Delivery in County Governments in Kenya

Abstract

A proactive human resource management (HRM) system in public sector organizations is critical for effective public service delivery. However, sub-national(county) governments (SNGs) in Kenya faced significant challenges in acquiring and retaining talented staff because of a labour supply and demand mismatch. Based on the challenge, the study evaluated the nature of the talent management strategies and their influence on service delivery in sub-national governments in Kenya. The study utilized the descriptive design and critically examined the HRM structures by sampling 140 respondents (47 county secretaries, 47 county directors of HRM and 46 municipality managers from municipalities based at the county headquarters of 46 counties) through interviews and questionnaires. The respondents were chosen based on their functional human resource management roles in the counties. The research instrument was validated through a panel review and piloted in three counties. The qualitative reports support the establishment and strengthening of county HR structure and systems, building staff capacity through training, and adopting talent management policies and practices to reduce staff turnover. This process would optimize staff competencies in sustaining service provisions at the county level. The correlation analysis indicated that service delivery positively correlated with talent management strategies (r = 0.6731, p< 0.05) at 0.05 significance levels, while the regression analysis revealed that talent management strategies explain about 45.30 % variance in service delivery with an effect size (β1 = 0.6210 (t = 10.6, p < 0.05). Based on the findings, the study concluded that talent management strategies are crucial to improving service delivery in Kenya's sub-national(county) governments. The study recommends proactive planning and adequately structuring the county's workforce based on knowledge, skills, abilities, and other characteristics. The study suggests that county governance structures should integrate and concretize the HRM initiatives geared towards talent management