STRATEGIC PLANNING PROCESS AND PERFORMANCE OF ACCREDITED UNIVERSITIES IN KENYA: THE MODERATING EFFECT OF ORGANIZATIONAL CHARACTERISTICS

Abstract

The extensiveness, intensity and formality of a strategic planning process in an organization may have an effect on the organization performance. The degree and direction of this effect still remains an unresolved management concern due to lack of consensus in research findings. This indicates that, there are other possible factors that may influence the relationship necessitating further empirical investigations. Every organization has unique characteristics like age, ownership and size, which define and differentiate it from other organizations in the same industry and these may have a bearing on the relationship between strategic planning process and organization performance. The population of interest was all accredited universities in Kenya as at November 2016. The findings indicate that age, size and ownership structure are statistically significant moderators for the relationship between strategic planning process and growth performance of accredited universities in Kenya while size and age are statistically significant moderators for the relationship between strategic planning process and ranking performance of accredited universities in Kenya. The study recommends that, as universities endeavor to use the strategic planning process as a management tool to enhance performance, they must consider their unique characteristics which will enhance or hinder their planning efforts