An Assessment of Retention Strategies on Performance Among National Police Service Officers: A Case of Kisumu County, Kenya

Abstract

Organizations are ever competing to retain their best performing employees and as such, this has become a significant challenge facing security agencies. The police service has to ensure maintenance of the law enforcement workforce level. Human resource departments in the police service therefore need to motivate and retain its most talented employees   as a result of the dynamics in the workforce. The government of Kenya has carried out several reforms like putting up new housing units, leasing of motor vehicles and merging Police units with a view of keeping and retaining the most talented officers. However, police officers are still leaving for other organizations. This study did an assessment of retention strategies on performance of the National Police Service officers in Kisumu County, Kenya. The objective of the study was to investigate how training and development strategies affect performance of the National Police Service officers in Kenya. The study was structured by Fredrick Herzberg’s Two Factor Theory and Job Embeddedness theory. The study adapted a mixed methods approach by combining cross-sectional survey design and phenomenology design. Data from a sample of 108 officers was collected through a self-administered questionnaire and a key informant guide. Both Non-Probabilistic and Probabilistic Sampling methods were used. Thematic data analysis was employed in analyzing qualitative data while descriptive method was used to analyse quantitative data. The results revealed that training and development had a statistically significant influence on performance of the national Police Service The study recommends adoption of organizational learning in the police service, particularly for junior officers. The National Police Service should formulate policies and strategies to mitigate the high labour turnover within the service.

Keywords: Retention, Strategies, Training, Development, Performance, Police

DOI: 10.7176/PPAR/11-5-06

Publication date:June 30^th 2021