Physical Wellbeing Programs and Performance of Academic Staff in Selected Chartered Public Universities in Kenya

Abstract

The performance of academic staff plays a vital role in Kenya’s economic growth and societal advancement, with universities serving as key institutions in producing the human capital essential for national development. However, despite their vital role in teaching, research and community service, only one university appeared in year 2023 edition of the Global 2000 list at position 1425 which was a drop from year 2022 due to decline in students’ employability and research performance. This study examined the effect of physical wellbeing programs and performance of academic staff in selected chartered public universities in Kenya.  The study employed positivism philosophy and was guided by social exchange theory and theory of planned behavior. Descriptive and cross-sectional designs were employed.  Target population comprised of 7090 academic staff from 8 public universities with a sample size of 379. Purposive, stratified and simple random sampling were employed to select academic staff.  Data was collected using semi-structured questionnaires where close-ended responses were measured on 5-point Likert scale and open-ended responses were analyzed using content analysis.  Descriptive statistics was used to analyze quantitative data which comprised of percentages, frequencies, means and standard deviation.  Linear regression model was employed to examine the association between physical wellbeing and the hypothesized construct. Hypothesis was investigated at 95% confidence level. The study established that physical wellbeing was statistically significant and was positively associated to performance of academic staff in chartered public universities in Kenya with (β = 0.248, t = 6.497, p < .001). However, the model was modest with physical wellbeing programs accounting for 11.8% of the variance in performance (R² = 0.118).  To boost academic staff performance, the study recommends improving access, awareness, and flexibility of physical wellbeing programs.