ASSESSING KNOWLEDGE LEAKAGE ON PERFORMANCE AMONGST TEACHING STAFF IN PUBLIC UNIVERSITIES IN KENYA

Abstract

Although universities in Kenya recognize that knowledge retention amongst teaching staff enhance universities’ performance, there are gaps that hinder collaboration, linkages, knowledge sharing and management, and improved Information Communication Technology physical infrastructure. Today, poorly established platforms where knowledge can be shared amongst the teaching staff are common in most of the universities. Technologies that speedily transfer knowledge are poorly retained and maintained, reliable knowledge management systems that are integrated in the available IT infrastructure are missing and knowledge sharing and management policies have not been understood. The objective of the study was to determine the ways in which knowledge leakage has impacted on innovations amongst teaching staff in public universities in Kenya and; Propose suitable knowledge sharing and management strategies that can be used to enhance performance of knowledge workers in public universities in Kenyan. The study adopted descriptive research. The study population consisted of twenty three (23) chartered public universities. The study used systematic random sampling to select six universities from 23 chartered universities. The sample size was three hundred and eight (308) respondents. Data was collected through structured questionnaires. Data was analyzed using quantitative method. Data was analysed using descriptive statistics aided by Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) and presented in percentages, frequencies, means, tables and graphs. The study established that knowledge leakage lead to the loss of specialized expertise with a high significant association between knowledge leakage and impact on innovations (χ2(6) = 21.631, p=.001) which was less than 0. The study recommends that public universities provide for consistent skill training to mitigate knowledge leakage and provide incentives to ensure knowledge retention