Talent Engagement Approaches and Competitiveness Among Five Star Hotels in Nairobi City County, Kenya

The study sought to establish talent engagement approaches and competitiveness among five-star hotels in Nairobi city county, Kenya. Engagement is a heightened emotion and intellectual connection that talent has for their job, organisation, executives, or co-workers that influence them to apply additional discretionary effort to their work. Talent engagement is a challenge for many business organisations worldwide, as there is evidence that the number of employees giving full discretionary effort is falling. This has led to weak hospitality product diversification and differentiation in economies, including Kenya, which negatively impacts competitive advantage. The study adopted a quantitative research design. Respondents were talent and training executives upon whom structured questionnaires were administered. Data analysis was done using; descriptive statistics, bivariate correlation through Spearman’s Rank correlation and multiple linear regression analyses. A bivariate correlation between each approach of the talent engagement against competitiveness among five-star hotels in Nairobi City County revealed very weak and weak negative association except psychological contract. The results implied that hotels had not embraced talent engagement through an exclusive approach of talent management but through inclusive talent management which is basically human resources management. Multiple linear regressions analysis revealed that psychological contract was the most critical approach. The H0, ‘there is no significant relationship between talent engagement approaches adopted, and competitiveness of five–star hotels in Nairobi City County’ was rejected. Keywords: Talent Management, Talent, Engagement, Motivation, Commitment, and Competitiveness DOI: 10.7176/JTHS/54-04 Publication date: February 28th 202

Conceptualisation of Talent Management on Promotion of Competitiveness Among Five–Star Hotels in Nairobi City County, Kenya

The study sought to explore the conceptualisation of talent management (TM) on promoting competitiveness among five–star hotels in Nairobi City County, Kenya. There is a lack of unanimous conceptualisation of talent management. Organisations either lean to exclusive or inclusive conceptualisations. The exclusive approach has been touted as the source of competitive advantage; while the inclusive approach has been observed to lack the sharpness of influencing competitive advantage. Similarly, Kenya's hospitality industry faces TM challenges that impede it from acquiring, developing, and retaining high potentials, high performers, or talent with critical knowledge, skills, and abilities to create competitive advantage. There is insufficient literature about the nature of TM approach adopted in Kenya's hospitality industry and its relationship to competitive advantage. These aspects formed the basis of the cuurent study. Data analysis was done through thematic analysis with the help of the QSR NVivo 10 Analysis Package. Findings indicated that hotels did not have a unanimous definition of TM. This meant that TM was adopted differently across the hospitality industry in Kenya. Findings also revealed that approximately 58% of the five-star hotels in Nairobi City County conceptualised talent management based on the exclusive perspectives which TM researchers found to create competitive advantages for organisations. However, approximately 42% of the hotels that leaned towards an inclusive viewpoint were less likely to draw competitive benefits created by talent management. The majority of the informants who adopted the exclusive perspective approach of talent management indicated that they created competitive resources. In contrast, less than 50% of those that adopted an inclusive approach thought that talent management did not influence the competitiveness of the five-star hotels in Nairobi City County. Keywords: Talent management, Exclusive approach, Inclusive approach, and Competitiveness DOI: 10.7176/JTHS/54-03 Publication date: February 28th 202

Mothers’ and Households’ Food Security Status in Kangai and Mutithi Locations of Mwea West Sub County, Kenya

The purpose of this study was to investigate household’s food security status.  The study was carried out in dry harvesting and wet planting seasons in the two locations of Mwea West Sub County, Kenya, namely, Kangai and Mutithi.  The study design was comparative cross sectional survey while the data instrument was a structured researcher administered household questionnaire. Sampling techniques  included probability proportionate to population, The data were analyzed by the use of Health Canada’s, Household Food Security Survey Model (HFSSM), On the whole, the findings were that 39% of the households were food secure, 21 % were moderately insecure, while 40 % were severely food insecure. The general conclusion was that in as much as the households in the two locations were significantly different in terms of households’ and mothers’ food security status, they both experienced chronic food insecurity which did not change with the season. The study recommends food intervention for the 40 % of households that are severely food insecure. Keywords: Food Security Status, Households’ Food Security, Mothers’ Food Security, Health Canada

Dietary Micronutrient Intake amongst Mothers in Kangai and Mutithi locations of Mwea West Sub County, Kenya

The purpose of this study was to determine the Dietary Micronutrient Intake amongst Mothers in Kangai and Mutithi locations of Mwea West Sub County, Kenya. The study design was cross sectional survey while data collecting instruments included a structured questionnaire and a meal preparation observation guide.  Data were collected on the dietary intake of Vitamin A, iron, and zinc through the four weeks food frequency recall technique, and through observation of Meal preparation in the households.  A sample of 399 mothers participated in the structure questionnaire while a sub sample of 63 mothers participated in the meals preparation.  The data were processed by the use of the SPSS software. Food Consumption Score tool were used to compute acceptable, borderline and poor categories of dietary intake of micronutrients while National Nutrient Data base for Standard Reference, Release 26 Software v.1.4, to compute nutrient content in foods. The t-tests were used to test hypotheses. It was established that food consumption behaviors and the dietary intake of micronutrients were significantly different in the two locations (p < 0.05). The mothers did not meet the Recommended Dietary Allowances (RDA) for Vitamin A, iron and zinc, while Food Consumption Score ( FCS ) tool categorized  33% of the mothers in Kangai and 51% in Mutithi under poor dietary micronutrient intake.  The study concluded that mothers in the two studied locations experienced micronutrient deficiency. Further research is recommended using serum biochemical analysis of Vitamin A, iron and zinc in order to get the actual status of these micronutrients in the community. Key Words: Malnutrition, Micronutrient Status, Food Security Status, dietary intake, Povert

Relationship between Socio Demographic Status and Risk Factors for Micronutrient Utilization among Mothers in Mwea West Sub County, Kenya

The purpose of the study was to determine the Risk Factors for Micronutrient Utilization among the Mothers in the Sub County and in particular water sources and waste disposal. The sampling frame included all the mothers with at least one child aged 2 to 5 years. The survey design was employed and was cross sectional in nature. The sample size was 401. It was established that canal water was used by majority of the Households. Other sources included piped water, river borehole and roof catchment. The household water source was significantly correlated to Occupation, House construction type, Income level and Size of land owned by the households. These variables contributed up to 60.1% of the variations in household water sourcing in the Sub County.  Majority of the respondents, disposed of their waste through burning the refuse, compost pit, or fed it to livestock. The waste disposal methods were not significantly correlated to household socio-demographics. Key Words: Malnutrition, Micronutrient Status, Micronutrient utilization, Food Security, Micronutrient risk factor

Relationship between Mothers’ Socio Demographic Characteristics and Food Security Status in Kangai and Mutithi Locations of Mwea West Sub County, Kenya

The purpose of the study was to determine the relationship between mothers’ socio demographic characteristics and food security status in Kangai and Mutithi Locations of Mwea West Sub County, Kenya. The design was cross sectional survey while the data instrument was a structured researcher administered household questionnaire. Sampling techniques  included probability proportionate to population, The Socio Demographic data were analyzed by the use of proportions and t-tests  while food security status data were analyzed by the use of Health Canada’s, Household Food Security Survey Model (Health Canada, 2012). Logistical regression model was used to determine the relationship between Socio Demographics and Food Security Status.   It was found out that the socio demographics of the mothers in the two locations were significantly different. The house hold food security status for the Sub County was that 39% of households were food secure, 21% were moderately food insecure while 40% were severely food insecure. Gender of the household head, marital status, religion, age, occupation, education, income sources, expenditure on food and land size were the most pronounced proxy indicators for food security status in the Sub County and they underscore the poverty levels in the area. Further research is suggested on possible interventions for food insecurity in the sub county. Keywords: Food Security Status, Socio Demographic Characteristics, Socio Economic Characteristics, Povert