Competency training, organizational commitment and employee performance in Uasin Gishu County Government, Kenya

Abstract

A successful organization is driven by effective training programmes for its staff. Notably, competency training competencies have been exhaustively investigated on their association with employee performance. There is, therefore, inadequate knowledge on organizational commitment as a potential moderator between competency training and employee performance, thus the need to interrogate the link between these two variables. Therefore, the focal point of this study was to examine. the moderating effect of organizational commitment on competency training and employee performance in Uasin Gishu County Government Offices. The objectives of the study were to: determine the effect of emotional intelligence competencies, cognitive competencies and social intelligence competencies on employee performance; and the moderating effect of organizational commitment on these relationships. The study was anchored on universalistic theory as the main theory, supported by social learning theory and job embeddedness Theory. The explanatory research design was adopted for the study targeting 6,400 employees, out of which 198 respondents formed the sample size based on Cochran formula of sample size determination. To pick the sample, stratified random sampling technique was used. A structured questionnaire was the main tool of data collection. In data analysis, descriptive statistics such as standard deviations and frequencies were used while inferential statistics were obtained by carrying out hierarchical regression analyses. The findings of the study revealed that social intelligence competence (p = 0.000, β =.608) had a positive and significant effect on employee performance. It was further established that emotional intelligence competence (p = 0.123, β =.103) and cognitive competence (p = 0.056, β =.015) did not have a significant effect on employee performance. The moderator （Organizational competence） was found to have a positive and significant effect on employee performance (p= 0.001, β = .247). Additionally, the first interaction effect indicate that organizational commitment moderates the relationship between emotional intelligence competence and employee performance (p =0.003, β = -.176), the second interaction effect shows that organizational commitment moderates the relationship between cognitive intelligence competence and employee performance (p =0.001, β = -.251）。 Moreover, the third interaction effect indicates that organizational commitment moderates the relationship between, social intelligence competence and employee performance (p= 0.000, β = - .497). The study contributes to knowledge by revealing new insights that organizational commitment moderates the indirect links between competency training and employee performance thus providing greater predictive power than when testing the direct on its own. The study recommends that organizations should understand and develop a holistic approach of implementing competency training strategies which include emotional intelligence competencies, cognitive competencies and social intelligence competencies and which focus on changing the demands of employees for sustained performance.