Effect of Knowledge Management Practices on Academic Performance of University Students in Kenya: A Survey of Private Chartered Universities

Abstract

The concept of Knowledge Management has recently been applied as a practice for measuring or gauging performance. However, the effect of these practices on academic performance of university students is yet to be analyzed and contextualized in a university setup. The research purposed to analyze the effect of knowledge management practices on academic performance of private universities in Kenya. Four sets of knowledge management practices were identified and conceptualized to guide this study: knowledge acquisition, knowledge transfer, knowledge retention and knowledge sharing. Private chartered universities in Kenya were used as the case with primary data collected through questionnaires. The target population comprised of 2,653 postgraduate students and faculty/department heads. A sample size of 370 respondents was determined using a sample size table from the Commission for University Education. Respondents were selected through stratified random sampling while data collected analyzed using descriptive and inferential methods. This finding established that 27.8% variation in postgraduate academic performance in private universities was attributable to knowledge management practices in use in private universities in Kenya; Knowledge acquisition had very weak positive and insignificant correlation (r=0.044) and insignificant partial factor effect (β = 0.040, p=0.526); Knowledge transfer had strong positive and significant correlation (r=0.252**) and significant partial factor effect (β = 0.014, p=0.03); Knowledge retention had very weak negative and insignificant correlation (r=-0.034) and an insignificant negative partial factor change (β = -0.124, p=0.064); and finally Knowledge sharing had strong positive and significant correlation (r=0.485**) and a significant partial factor change (β = 0.455, p=<0.001), all on postgraduate academic performance. The study drew the conclusion that Knowledge transfers and Knowledge sharing significantly affected postgraduate academic performance, while knowledge acquisition and Knowledge retention do not have significant effects. Lastly, the study strongly recommends further analysis on the following (i) explain the observed negative effect of knowledge retention on academic performance, (ii) an analysis to explore other factors accounting for 72.2% variation on academic performance not addressed, and (iii) a similar study be extended to public universities for comparison and complementarity of findings.