Effect of Employee Engagement on Organisation Performance in Kenya’s Horticultural Sector

Abstract

The horticulture sector is estimated to employ over 50,000-60,000 people directly and 500,000 people indirectly through affiliated services to the industry for example farm inputs, transport, packaging and banking (Kenya Flower Council, 2010). It is therefore imperative that the welfare of the workers working in this sector is given paramount importance by both government and the stakeholders as a whole. This study therefore sought to explore the effect of employee engagement on organization performance in Kenya’s horticultural sector. This study was carried out in flower farms in Kenya. The population of this study was all flower farms in Kenya which were the 14 flower farms registered in the KFC directory (2013) and based in Naivasha. The study targeted the employees in the identified farms. Cross sectional survey research design was used for the study. Stratified sampling technique was used to sample the study respondents. A total of 2460 respondents were targeted by the study out of which 1888 responded giving a response rate of 76.7%. Questionnaires were used as instrument for data collection. Both quantitative and qualitative data analysis techniques were used. Quantitative data was analyzed using descriptive statistics while qualitative data was analyzed thematically. Inferential statistics such as correlation and regression analysis were used to test on the relationship between the variables of the study. The study found that 55% of the respondents agreed that there were clear policy on staff supervision and performance development. It was also found that 55% of the respondents agreed that there are clear guidelines on time for reporting to work and leaving. The results of correlation analysis show that employee engagement is statistically significant with a Pearson correlation coefficient of 0.533 at a level of significance of 0.000. The study concluded that employee engagement is a major determinant of organization performance in the horticultural sector in Kenya. The study recommended that organization should emphasize on induction training as it will help in clarifying the roles of employees thus improving the general organization performance.