Assessment of the Influence of Recruitment Practices on Employee Performance at Kenya Medical Training College, Nairobi, Kenya
Year: 2026
Type: article
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: Recruitment practices are critical to determining employee performance and organisational effectiveness, especially in the health sector, such as the Kenya Medical Training College (KMTC), the largest public health training institution in Kenya. Although recruitment is an important function that should ensure quality services, there is limited empirical evidence on the impact of employment practices on employee performance in public training institutions in low-resource areas. This study, therefore, evaluated the effect of recruitment practices on employees' performance in KMTC Nairobi Campus. This study took place at KMTC Nairobi Campus from June 2025 to September 2025. The study period adds to methodological completeness and takes place within a temporal frame for the data collection and interpretation of the results. This study used a mixed-methods research design that is cross-sectional. The population size of 556 employees was selected, and a sample of 114 employees was drawn by Nassiuma’s formula and proportionate stratified random sampling. Overall, 90.3% of questionnaires were returned (N = 130). Structured questionnaires and open-ended questions were used for the collection of primary data. Reliability testing for the research tools was conducted using Cronbach's alpha, and data analysis used descriptive statistics, correlation, regression and thematic analysis. The results indicated that there was a strong positive and statistically significant relationship between recruitment practices and employee performance. Placement and onboarding recorded the strongest relationship (r = 0.830, p <0.01), followed by the screening process (r = 0.815, 1p<0.01), job advertisement (r = 0.788, p <0.01), and selection process (r = 0.782, p <0.01). The results of regression analysis showed that the recruitment practices accounted for 77.1% of the variance in employee performance (R2 = 0.771). Placement and onboarding (β = 0.358, p ¡ 0.001), screening process (β = 0.259, p = 0.005), and job advertisement (β = 0.207, p = 0.013) significantly influenced employee performance, while the selection process was not statistically significant (β= 0.129, p = 0.141). Qualitative results indicated that the recruitment system of KMTC was fairly organised and transparent, but there was still a need to improve the mechanisms for giving feedback, transparency in shortlisting, induction and mentorship of the recruits. The study found that using a fair, transparent and structured recruitment process significantly improves employee motivation, productivity and organisational performance. The results offer practical considerations for KMTC and the Ministry of Health on how to enhance medical training recruitment systems and increase the stability and quality of workforces in the medical training sector in Kenya.
Institutions: Mount Kenya University, Technical University of Kenya
Language: English
Topic: Employer Branding and e-HRM
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W7208833649