Abstract:
In the recent past inadequate government funding has led to stiff competition amongst
public universities to attract Self Sponsored Programmes (SSP) students in order to
meet the financial short-fall. Studies have shown that public universities use external
and internal marketing as institution responsiveness strategies to attract SSP students;
however no records exist on internal marketing as part of the institutions’
responsiveness strategy with personality traits as a moderator. The general objective
of the study was to examine the moderating effect of personality traits on the
relationship between institution responsiveness and competitiveness of public
universities in Kenya. The study had five specific objectives examining the effect of
the five aspects of institution responsiveness namely: public relations, motivation,
personal selling, information capital and intellectual capital on competitiveness of
Public Universities in Kenya. The study was guided by the following theories; the
resource based view theory, knowledge based view theory, dynamic capabilities
theory, eysenck theory and the five factor theory. The study utilized explanatory
survey research design. Solvin formula was used to obtain a sample of twenty eight
public universities out of the thirty one and a sample of 212 senior managers, 398
support staff and 400 SSP students. The study used multi-stage sampling procedure to
arrive at the sample. Multiple regression procedures were used to establish the effects
of the five dimensions of institution responsiveness on competitiveness. Hierarchical
multiple regression analysis was used to establish the moderating effect of personality
traits on the relationship between institution responsiveness and competitiveness. The
results of the study indicated that public relations (ß= 0.230, p < .05), motivation (ß=
0.638, p < .05), personal selling (ß= 0.220, p < .05), information capital (ß= 0.209, p <
.05), intellectual capital (ß=-0.160, p < .05) and moderator personality traits (ß=
0.264, p < .05) were significant predictors of institution competitiveness.
Subsequently, when moderated with personality traits it was found that public relation
(β = -0.002, P >0.05), motivation (β = -0.138, P >0.05), personal selling (β = -0.103,
P >0.05), intellectual capital (β = -0.037, P >0.05) had negative insignificant effect on
institution competitiveness whereas information capital had negative but significant
effect on institution competitiveness (β = -0.219, P < 0.05). Similarly, overall test of
significance with F-test values F (11, 16) = 43.230, P < 0.000 confirmed high
significant effect of personality traits on the relationship between institution
responsiveness and competitiveness.The conclusion drawn from these results
indicated that the study supported the use of resource based view, knowledge based
view, dynamic capabilities, eysenck and the, five factor model theories. In addition, it
extended the use of literature of institution responsiveness and competitiveness. The
findings of the study would enable public university management identify critical
factors and design sustainable institution responsiveness strategies which would
enable their institutions achieve sustained competitive advantage with a view to
attracting more SSP students. The findings will go a long way in assisting university
management to respond to changes taking place in institutions of higher learning in
Kenya, and these use their resources, competences and the capabilities to develop and
maintain a competitive edge. This study recommends a similar study involving both
public and private universities; to cover other dimensions of institution responsiveness
like training and attitudes; in other organizational settings.