Employee Empowerment and Innovative Work Behavior: The Moderating Role of Leader-Member Exchange

Purpose: This paper seeks to address the moderating effect of leader-member exchange on the link between employee empowerment and innovative work behavior. Design/Methodology: The study draws on the causal-comparative research design, and employs paper-based self-administered questionnaires to gather data from a sample of 470 employees drawn from manufacturing firms in Kenya. This sample is part of a population of 9915 employees and has been narrowed down using Yamane’s formula. The study employs stratified and simple random sampling techniques to constitute the required sample of employees. Findings: The results indicate that employee empowerment and Leader-Member Exchange positively and significantly affect innovative work behavior. The results further reveal that Leader-member exchange significantly moderates the link between employee empowerment and innovative work behavior. Practical Implication: The findings of this study provide an avenue through which managers of manufacturing firms can identify constructs that best explain innovative work behavior, especially during challenging times such as this time of Covid 19 pandemic. The results of this study provides managers with opportunities to come up with techniques, policies and strategies to improve relationship between employees and their supervisors for purposes of improved productivity, employee loyalty and reduced conflicts. Originality/Value: The study makes a novel attempt to show the moderating influence of leader–member exchange in the context of employee empowerment and innovative work behavior in manufacturing firms in Kenya. Moreover, the study underscores the importance of leader-member exchange in employees’ innovative behavior, which is vital knowledge in tough times like the current uncertainty caused by the covid-19 pandemic

Challenges and Strategies in the Implementation of Human Resource Information Systems in Kenyan Universities

The need for quality service delivery and enhanced outputs in organizations has led to the need for a streamlined and efficient workforce. This is clearly illustrated by the numerous strategies that organisations are putting in place in order to satisfy their clients’ needs.  One such strategy that has gained popularity in many organisations is the entry of Human Resource Information Systems. Even though most of these strategies have propelled organizations in fulfilling their objectives, limited information exists on HRIS in Kenya, more so in the higher education sector. This study therefore examined the challenges and strategies in the implementation of human resource information systems in Kenyan universities. The specific objectives of the study were: to establish the challenges associated with the usage of HRIS on service delivery and; to explore appropriate strategies for sustained usage of HRIS on service delivery in Public and Private Universities in Kenya. The study used the survey research design. The targeted population for the study was 88 and was drawn from departments of Human Resource, Information and Communications Technology and Finance from the two Universities. The three departments were purposively selected since they were involved with HR matters. The entire population participated in the study since it was small and manageable. The researcher used questionnaires and an interview schedule to collect data from the respondents. Collected data was analyzed descriptively and presented through tables. It was established that there were challenges in the usage of HRIS as most employees resisted the changeover from the manual system to the automated system. Lack of skilled Staff, High cost of setting up and maintaining a HRIS and resistance to change of the organizational culture were other challenges stated. In order to effectively implement HRIS, the respondents opined that there should mobilization of resources required to set up HRIS, acquisition of a suitable HRIS software, the organization should focus on their goals and objectives in order to enhance usage and HRIS performance, recruitment of trained and qualified HRIS staff and continuous in-house training for existing staff on HRIS implementation. The findings revealed that there were a number of benefits associated with adoption of HRIS which included easy access of staff information, improved data management, and improved data input process among others. Therefore, there is need to expand the use of HRIS in the universities. This will enable the Universities to efficiently and effectively handle HR functions. Key words: HRIS, HRIS Implementation Challenges, HRIS Implementation Strategies, Kenyan Universities, ICT, Service Deliver

An Assessment of the Utilization of Human Resource Information Systems in Selected Universities in Kenya

Service Delivery is one of the important key functions of any organization that is involved in Human Resource Management activities. This is clearly demonstrated by the numerous strategies that organizations are putting in place in order to satisfy demands of their customers.  Human Resource Information Systems (HRIS) is one such strategy that has gained popularity in application by many organizations.  Though most of these strategies have propelled organizations in fulfilling their objectives, lack information on HRIS exists in Kenya. The study objectives were to: examine the HRIS usage in universities in Kenya and establish the application of HRIS in universities. The study used survey research design. The targeted population of 88 was drawn from Departments of Human Resource, ICT and Finance from the two Universities. The three departments were purposively selected since they were directly involved with HR matters. The entire population participated in the study since it was small and manageable. The researcher used questionnaires and an interview schedule to collect data from the respondents. Collected data was analyzed descriptively and presented through tables. From the findings, it was established that the institutions used both the automated and the manual HRIS. HRIS was found to be commonly used for payroll and record management. Besides, HRIS was also found to be used for recruitment, promotions and skills inventory. The study therefore recommends that the management of Kenyan Universities should allocate adequate resources for the implementation and maintenance of the system. HR managers should play a proactive role to support HRIS implementation in their organizations. It is also recommended that since the Universities in Kenya have adopted different types of Human Resource information systems, these systems need to be integrated and exchange data in order to increase availability and readiness of information to support top management on decision making. Keywords: Human Resource Information Systems, Universities in Kenya, Service Delivery, IC

Employee Empowerment and Innovative Work Behavior

Purpose: This paper seeks to address the moderating effect of leader-member exchange on the link between employee empowerment and innovative work behavior. Design/Methodology: The study draws on the causal-comparative research design, and employs paper-based self-administered questionnaires to gather data from a sample of 470 employees drawn from manufacturing firms in Kenya. This sample is part of a population of 9915 employees and has been narrowed down using Yamane’s formula. The study employs stratified and simple random sampling techniques to constitute the required sample of employees. Findings: The results indicate that employee empowerment and Leader-Member Exchange positively and significantly affect innovative work behavior. The results further reveal that Leader-member exchange significantly moderates the link between employee empowerment and innovative work behavior. Practical Implication: The findings of this study provide an avenue through which managers of manufacturing firms can identify constructs that best explain innovative work behavior, especially during challenging times such as this time of Covid 19 pandemic. The results of this study provides managers with opportunities to come up with techniques, policies and strategies to improve relationship between employees and their supervisors for purposes of improved productivity, employee loyalty and reduced conflicts. Originality/Value: The study makes a novel attempt to show the moderating influence of leader–member exchange in the context of employee empowerment and innovative work behavior in manufacturing firms in Kenya. Moreover, the study underscores the importance of leader-member exchange in employees’ innovative behavior, which is vital knowledge in tough times like the current uncertainty caused by the covid-19 pandemic