Principals’ Performance Contracting Practices and Service Delivery in Public Secondary Schools: Evidence from Kisii County, Kenya
Denis Okemwa Mitieka, Pamela Ochieng and Susan Macharia
Mount Kenya University, Kenya
Email: denismitieka@gmail.com
Abstract: This study examined the relationship between principals’ performance contracting practices, namely target setting, resource allocation, stakeholder involvement, and monitoring and evaluation (M&E), and service delivery in public secondary schools in Kisii County, Kenya. The study used a convergent parallel mixed-methods design, with the quantitative strand beinga cross-sectional correlational survey. Schools were stratified by sub-county and selected through proportionate random sampling, and 1,079 usable questionnaires were obtained from 173 principals, 363 teachers, 322 Board of Management members, and 221 parents’ representatives. Six education officers were purposively interviewed. Data were collected using questionnaires, interviews, and document review, and were analysed using descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation, and simple and multiple regression. Each practice was positively associated with service delivery: target setting (R = .633), resource allocation (R = .634), stakeholder involvement (R = .630), and M&E (R = .650), all p < .001. Entered simultaneously, the four practices explained 58.1% of the variance in service delivery, F(4, 1074) = 372.299, p < .001, with M&E having the largest standardised coefficient (β = .265). The study concludes that performance contracting operates as an integrated management cycle in which targets, resources, participation, and feedback are interconnected. Because the design was cross-sectional and respondents were nested within schools, the findings are respondent-level associations rather than causal effects. The study recommends that principals and education authorities link target setting to resource planning, stakeholder participation, and regular monitoring, and strengthen the use of performance information for corrective action.
