Research Publications

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    Effect of team diversity on team cohesion in faith-based organizations: Acase of St. Martin catholic social apostolate in Nyahururu, Kenya
    (2022) Wanjiku, Daniel Kabiru; Gichuhi, David; Mwaura, Peter
    eam diversity management helps to improve the cohesion of a team and ultimately, organizational development is enhanced. The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of team diversity management on team cohesion at St. Martin Catholic Social Apostolate, Kenya. The study adopted a descriptive research design. The target population for the study was 115 employees at the St. Martin Catholic Social Apostolate in Kenya. Stratified and simple random sampling procedures were used to sample 92 employees. Data was collected using a questionnaire and the collected data was analyzed through the use of the Statistical Package for Social Scientists (SPSS) version 21. Descriptive statistical analysis involved the calculation of percentages and frequencies while inferential statistical analysis involved Pearson correlation in establishing the association of the variables under investigation. and Chi-square tests. Data was presented in the form of tables and charts. Qualitative data were analysed thematically and presented in the form of narratives. The study ensured that ethical considerations were adhered to. The study found a statistically significant relationship between team diversity management and team cohesion (p<0.05). The study concludes that each team member is held accountable for their activities and the decisions they make regarding the team and is included in team activities. The study recommends that the team leaders ensure that all team members are included in all team activities. This can be achieved through creating environments and opportunities that allow the team members to provide their opinions openly
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    Exploring Resources and Performance Relationships in Commercial Enterprises: An Empirical Perspective
    (2015-10-07) Ombaka, Beatrice Elesani; Awino, Zachary Bolo; Machuki, Vincent N.; Wainaina, Gituro
    Despite a growing body of literature on firm performance, explaining why firms in the same industry and markets differ in their performance remains a fundamental question within strategic management field. Researchers have attributed differences in firm performance to resources owned by a firm but the results remain fragmented and no consensus has yet emerged. Therefore, the debate is still open and this study sought to contribute to the debate and address extant gaps. This study investigated the influence of organizational resources on performance of insurance companies in Kenya. The study was based on a survey of 46 insurance companies in Kenya. The study reports that both tangible and intangible resources have a statistically significant influence on non-financial performance of insurance companies in Kenya. However, there were mixed findings as regards the individual influence of resources on various firm performance indicators. Intangible resources evidenced statistically not significant results individually but when combined, they had a statistically significant influence on non-financial performance. The reverse was true for tangible resources. Based on the findings, implications of the study and suggestions for further study are presented.
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    Exploring Resources and Performance Relationships in Commercial Enterprises: An Empirical Perspective
    (2015-10-07) Beatrice E., Ombaka; Awino, Zachary Bolo; Machuki, Vincent N.; Wainaina, Gituro
    Despite a growing body of literature on firm performance, explaining why firms in the same industry and markets differ in their performance remains a fundamental question within strategic management field. Researchers have attributed differences in firm performance to resources owned by a firm but the results remain fragmented and no consensus has yet emerged. Therefore, the debate is still open and this study sought to contribute to the debate and address extant gaps. This study investigated the influence of organizational resources on performance of insurance companies in Kenya. The study was based on a survey of 46 insurance companies in Kenya. The study reports that both tangible and intangible resources have a statistically significant influence on non-financial performance of insurance companies in Kenya. However, there were mixed findings as regards the individual influence of resources on various firm performance indicators. Intangible resources evidenced statistically not significant results individually but when combined, they had a statistically significant influence on non-financial performance. The reverse was true for tangible resources. Based on the findings, implications of the study and suggestions for further study are presented.
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    Participatory Communication Strategies Used in the Implementation of Public Water Projects in Murang'a County, Case Study of Northern Collector Tunnel, Kenya.
    (2020-05-14) Maina, Bernard Muhoro; Biwott, Caroline; Ombaka, Beatrice
    Development communication plays a major role in informing and influencing the behavior of the receiver of information. Effective development communication motivates people to participate in planned activities, changing the behavior and attitudes of people and empower them tofocus on interactions between different stakeholders to address a common problem. Community involvement is a very important aspect in implementation of any project. Without community buy-in, a project may never get off the ground or will not be accepted once it is completed. Community involvement is regarded as a nuisance and is ineffectively addressed,or there is a lack of knowledge as to how to engage the community. Either way, the results can be disastrous and would lead to delays in construction, loss of money, filing of law suits, disgruntled citizens providing negative comments to the media or non-acceptance of the revitalization project, the very thing that was supposed to be remedied. The study sought to establish Participatory Communication Strategies used in implementation of public water projects in Murang'a County, study of Northern Collector Tunnel. The Study was anchored on the theory of Kinkaid Convergence Model of Communication. The design was descriptive survey. Target population was 192,589 households. Krejcie and Morgan sampling formula was used to arrive at 384 respondents. Data was collected using a structured questionnaire and analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. The study established that participatory communication strategies play a critical role in the implementation of public water projects. The study recommends the involvement of community grouping, meeting with opinion leaders and the use of various media platforms including radios, local newspapers, and television and billboard illustration will go a long way in facilitating the successful implementation of Northern Collector Tunnel project.
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    Assessment of phenotypic diversity of Kenyan dolichos bean (Lablab purpureus L. sweet) germplasm based on morphological markers
    (2017) Kamotho, Grace N.; Muasya, Reuben M.; Kinyua, Miriam G.
    In Kenya, lack of phenotypic diversity assessment of Lablab has hindered its improvement. It is common to find that morphologically similar cultivars do not bear the same name while cultivars bearing the same name may not be identical morphologically. The aim of this study was to clear the ambiguity that exists in differentiating between the various phenotypes of Lablab. The morphological method is the oldest and considered the first step in description and classification of germplasms. Forty five accessions of Lablab collected from farmers’ fields in Rift Valley, Eastern, Coast and Central regions of Kenya were planted at Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organization, Njoro farm. A descriptor from Asian Vegetable Research Development Center was used as a guide. Results on means separation showed a high level of variability in quantitative traits and a low level of variability in qualitative traits. Eigen vectors derived from principal component analysis indicated that seed yield per plant, number of pods per plant, plant height and days to 90% mature pods contributed highly to total diversity in Lablab. In conclusion, Lablab germplasm grown in Kenya is morphologically diverse in quantitative traits where different genotypes are distinctly dissimilar.
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    Research data management challenges in Kenya: the case of private universities in Nairobi County
    (2019-09) Anduvare, E. M.; Mutula, S. M.
    This research paper is a spinoff from a Doctoral degree study that was carried out at the University of KwaZulu-Natal between 2017-2019. The aim of the study was to establish the role private university libraries in Nairobi, Kenya play in supporting eResearch and the challenges thereof that librarians and researchers face in the process of managing data. The study employed both qualitative and quantitative epistemological approaches with semi structured interviews and survey questionnaires to collect data from a population consisting of university librarians, faculty members and doctoral students respectively. The population was sampled purposively. The qualitative and quantitative data sets were analysed using SPSS and content analysis respectively. The findings revealed several challenges, which included among others the lack of strategies and policies to guide research data management support, the lack of integrated RDM policies, a research process that was fragmented, and limited ICT policies and infrastructures. The institutionalisation of RDM in the private universities in Kenya is therefore urgent and imperative. The findings have policy, practical and theoretical implications for the effective RDM in Kenyan private universities in order to enhance scientific and scholarly communications. While the focus of the study limits generalisation of the findings, other universities may gain insights on RDM challenges within university settings.
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    Salinity tolerance, growth and survival of three Artemia franciscana (Kellogg, 1906) populations under laboratory conditions
    (Wiley, 2024-04) Ngarari, Morine M.; Rugendo, Derrick G.; Nyonje, Betty M.; Hinzano, Sheban M.; Midumbi, David O.; Ngugi, Charles C.; Gatune, Charles W.
    In the 1980s, Artemia franciscana from San Francisco Bay (SFB) was introduced into Kenyan saltworks, where it has colonized and established stable populations. However, little is known about its biology, particularly with respect to its parental SFB population. This study compared the salinity tolerances of Kenyan (KEN) population, their SFB progenitors and those of Great Salt Lake (GSL) populations. Growth and survival of these A. franciscana populations were evaluated under varying salinity levels in a laboratory set up. A. franciscana nauplii were cultured at a rate of 1 nauplii/mL in 36 Erlenmeyer flasks and fed microalgae (Chaetoceros sp.) at 1.5 × 106 cells/animal/day for 8 days. Survival was evaluated daily and survivors were fixed in individual vials with Lugol solution. The total length of each fixed A. franciscana nauplii specimen was measured under a compound microscope. All populations were susceptible to salinities greater than 100 g/L. Compared with the parental SFB population, the KEN population exhibited significantly reduced survival and growth at 140 g/L, suggesting a narrower salinity tolerance range. These findings underscore the need for further studies focusing on other physiological parameters, abiotic factors and genetic characterization to confirm whether the KEN population is experiencing ecological adaptation. This will contribute to the optimization of Artemia practices in various salinity environments as a result of climate change.
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    Salinity tolerance, growth and survival of three Artemia franciscana (Kellogg, 1906) populations under laboratory conditions
    (Wiley, 2024-04-17) Ngarari, Morine M.; Rugendo, Derrick G.; Nyonje, Betty M.; Hinzano, Sheban M.; Midumbi, David O.; Ngugi, Charles C.; Opiyo, Mary A.; Okalo, Francis A.; Gatune, Charles W.
    In the 1980s, Artemia franciscana from San Francisco Bay (SFB) was introduced into Kenyan saltworks, where it has colonized and established stable populations. However, little is known about its biology, particularly with respect to its parental SFB population. This study compared the salinity tolerances of Kenyan (KEN) population, their SFB pro-genitors and those of Great Salt Lake (GSL) populations. Growth and survival of these A. franciscana populations were evaluated under varying salinity levels in a laboratory set up. A. franciscana nauplii were cultured at a rate of 1 nauplii/mL in 36 Erlenmeyer flasks and fed microalgae (Chaetoceros sp.) at 1.5 × 106 cells/animal/day for 8 days. Survival was evaluated daily and survivors were fixed in individual vials with Lugol solution. The total length of each fixed A. franciscana nauplii specimen was measured under a compound microscope. All populations were susceptible to salinities greater than 100 g/L. Compared with the parental SFB population, the KEN population exhibited significantly reduced survival and growth at 140 g/L, suggesting a narrower salinity tolerance range. These findings underscore the need for further studies focusing on other physiological parameters, abiotic factors and genetic characterization to confirm whether the KEN population is experiencing ecological adaptation. This will contribute to the optimization of Artemia practices in various salinity environments as a result of climate change.
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    Macroinvertebrate metrics and lipid profiles as potential indicators of land use influence in a high altitude tropical highland stream (Sagana River Basin, Kenya)
    (Elsevier, 2024) Odhiambo, Charles O.; Ngugi, Charles C.; Sharma, Rekha R.; Oyoo-Okoth, Elijah
    Land use practices near river ecotones result in numerous inputs of terrestrial materials into the river ecosystem. While macroinvertebrates population metrics is widely used in monitoring water quality changes, including those induced by humans, the use of lipid profiles in these organisms to monitor influence of land use practices is rather ignored. The aim of this study was to determine lipid profile in macroinvertebrates as potential indicator of human influence in Sagana River Basin, a high altitude tropical highland stream in Kenya. Sites were selected based on differences in land use activities delineated: forest with minimal land use activities, while cropland and saw milling areas had varying degrees of land use activities, with urban areas designated as sites with most human impacts. The macroinvertebrate metrics such as occurrence, abundance, diversity, percentage of oligo chaetes and chironomids (%OC), as well as the Ephemeroptera, Plecoptera and Trichoptera (%EPT) index differed relative to land use changes. Variation in the Fatty Acids (FAs), alcohols and sterols in benthic mac roinvertebrates was related to the land use activities along the stream. Evidently, streams traversing the urban areas had higher concentrations of Phospholipid fatty acids (PLFA), while streams traversing croplands had the highest neutral lipid fatty acids (NLFA). The dominance of monounsaturated FAs (MUFAs) in forest, shortchain FAs (SCFAs) and polyunsaturated FAs (PUFAs) in croplands and longchain FAs (LCFAs) near urban areas clear indicate different sources of these materials, mainly from terrestrial sources. Individual fatty acids, alcohols and sterols profiles discerned difference in land use changes. The concentrations of SCFAs, MUFAs, LCFAs, TeoH, 27Δ5.22, 28Δ5,24, 28Δ5,22, 29Δ5,22 and 29Δ5,22 in the benthic macroinvertebrates samples were positively associated with OC%, EPT, total abundance and eH’. Meanwhile the concentration of phytol, AqOH, 27Δ5 and SCOH were associated with Simpson index. The current findings support the combination of macroinvertebrates species composition, abundance, diversity and lipids profiles to detect land use activities at the riverine scale. While implementing catchment-based river management and conservation activities should incorporate lipid analysis as a management tool. There is need for continuous monitoring of long term trends in land use activities on the changes in lipid content of the macroinvertebrates
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    Relationship between empathy dimension and customer satisfaction in the insurance industry in Kenya
    (2019-10) Chege, Catherine Njoki; Wanjau, Kenneth Lawrence https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3146-5324; Nkirina, Severina
    The Insurance industry is essential to the economic course of every nation attaining sustainable growth and prosperity. However, the industry continues to experience a marginal growth of 2.5% compared to the global real term growth of 4%. This study analyzed the relationship between employee empathy and customer satisfaction in the Kenyan insurance industry. The study was guided by the causal research design. The study applied the linear mixed-effect models of structural equation modeling (SEM) considering the multi-level structure of the data collected. The study concluded that a client who perceives empathy from his/ her insurer’s employees is bound to have higher satisfaction than a customer who does not perceive empathy from their insurer. Employee empathy however, does not significantly affect the variations of customer satisfaction between the insurance companies.