Faculty of Business Studies

DIGITAL MARKETING STRATEGIES, STUDENT CHARACTERISTICS AND STUDENT ENROLLMENT DECISIONS IN SELECTED PRIVATE UNIVERSITIES IN KENYA

2025-11-01T00:00:00Z

DIGITAL MARKETING STRATEGIES, STUDENT CHARACTERISTICS AND STUDENT ENROLLMENT DECISIONS IN SELECTED PRIVATE UNIVERSITIES IN KENYA MURUGU, MARK M The recent Kenya National Bureau of Statistics report shows that private universities have been experiencing a significant drop in student enrollment rates since 2022. This pattern threatens the sustainability of private universities, since they rely on student admission rates. In response, these institutions leverage the power of digital media to attract learners. A review of the contemporary literature showed that digital marketing, including email, influencers, social media, SEO, and email marketing influence decision-making among the target audiences. This study’s main objective was to examine how digital marketing influence university enrollment decisions in private universities in Kenya. The specific objectives were to assess the influence of social media marketing, search engine optimization (SEO), and influencer marketing on student enrollment decisions, hinging on the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB), Engagement Theory and Social Influence Theory. The study employed a survey research design to collect and analyze primary data from current students in the three private universities in Kenya. Structured questionnaires were distributed across a sample of 382 students (n=382) drawn from the current 96,640 private university students consistently with Krejcie and Morgan’s (1970) sampling method. The data was imported in MS Excel format and analyzed for descriptive, correlation and regression using SPSS V.29. A Pearson correlation analysis established that each factor has positively and significantly associated with private university enrollment. Bivariate and multivariate regression analyses found that social media, influencer and SEO marketing influenced the student decisions to enroll in private universities. The influence was positive and statistically significant. Also, the multivariate regression analysis showed that these variables predicted university enrollment decisions jointly. The study also found that student characteristics moderated the link between digital marketing and university enrollment in both bivariate and multivariate regression analyses. Based on these findings, the research concluded that digital marketing has a positive influence on private university enrollment decisions. The study recommended that future research should assess other factors that influence student enrollment decisions, as digital marketing explained only 62.7% of the change in decision making among learners.

CAPITAL STRUCTURE, FIRM SIZE AND FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE OF COMMERCIAL AND SERVICES FIRMS LISTED ON THE NAIROBI SECURITIES EXCHANGE, KENYA

2025-11-01T00:00:00Z

CAPITAL STRUCTURE, FIRM SIZE AND FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE OF COMMERCIAL AND SERVICES FIRMS LISTED ON THE NAIROBI SECURITIES EXCHANGE, KENYA NJERU, FREDRICK M The capital structure and size of a corporation are two of the most important factors that affect its financial performance when it is listed on a capital market. To help the firm grow and become financially stable, there should be a good mix of debt and equity in its capital structure. The present study aimed to elucidate the relationship between capital structure and the financial performance of commercial and service organizations listed on the Nairobi Securities Exchange in Kenya, as influenced by firm size. The study's premise aimed to determine the impact of equity capital and long-term debt financing on the financial performance of commercial and service enterprises listed on the Nairobi Securities Exchange. Additionally, the moderating effects of firm size on the relationship between capital structure and financial performance, as well as the independent impacts of equity financing, long-term debt financing, and firm size on the financial performance of commercial and service firms listed on the Nairobi Securities Exchange, were evaluated and established. The research utilized the Modigliani-Miller, trade-off, agency, and pecking order theories to elucidate the managerial decisions concerning the enterprises' capital structure. The present study utilized a descriptive cross-sectional research approach. The target population consisted of 13 services and commercial enterprises registered on the Nairobi Security Exchange. The secondary data was gathered via a data collection sheet pertaining to the audited financial statements of the companies from 2015 to 2024. We used STATA software version 18 to look at the data in both descriptive and inferential statistics. The panel data regression analysis was utilized to ascertain the correlation between the variables, and the hypothesis was evaluated at a 5% significance level using the t-statistic and the F-statistic. The results were shown in tables and charts. The results showed that both total equity and long-term debt have statistically significant negative effects on financial performance, with coefficients of –0.077 (p < 0.001) and –0.185 (p = 0.002), respectively. This indicated that a greater extent of equity financing and long-term debt correlates with deteriorated financial performance, potentially due to elevated financial costs or an ineffective capital structure. company size exhibited a negative coefficient (–0.045); however, the association lacked significance at the 5% level (p = 0.087), suggesting that the influence of company size on performance is either minimal or indeterminate within the model. So, the results demonstrated that relying too much on outside funding, whether it's equity or debt, could hurt a company's success. The study suggested that businesses should be careful and find a balance when making decisions on how to finance themselves. Both equity financing and long-term debt have big negative consequences on financial performance, therefore managers shouldn't rely too much on either type of capital. Instead, companies should try to optimize their capital structure by keeping the right balance of internal and external funding that keeps costs low and returns high. The present study is expected to assist regulatory entities, including the Capital Markets Authority (CMA) and the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE), in the formulation and execution of policies.

INVENTORY MANAGEMENT CONTROL, MANAGEMENT LITERACY LEVEL AND PROCUREMENT PERFORMANCE OF LEVEL 6 HOSPITALS, KENYA

2025-11-01T00:00:00Z

INVENTORY MANAGEMENT CONTROL, MANAGEMENT LITERACY LEVEL AND PROCUREMENT PERFORMANCE OF LEVEL 6 HOSPITALS, KENYA KIREMA, CHARITY M Health facilities aim at ensuring that they have adequate stock in terms of medicines, machines and other related products to operate without any challenges associated with stockouts. The purpose of this study was to analyse the effect of inventory management control and procurement performance of level 6 in Kenya. The study was guided by the following specific objectives: to evaluate the effect of supplier relationship management on the procurement of level 6 hospitals in Kenya, to evaluate the effect of reorder strategy on the procurement performance of level 6 hospitals in Kenya, to assess the effect of compliance and audit readiness on the procurement performance of level 6 hospitals in Kenya, to assess the effect of safety stock on the procurement performance of level 6 hospitals in Kenya, to evaluate the moderating effect of management literacy level on the relationship between inventory management control on the procurement performance of level 6 hospitals in Kenya. The study population included seven level 6 hospitals. Census sampling technique was utilized. Primary data was collected using questionnaires which was distributed to procurement officers, stores personnel, internal auditors and hospital administrators. Pilot study was conducted at Jaramogi Oginga Odinga referral hospital. Reliability and validity of research instrument was conducted to ensure relevant data was collected. The hypotheses were obtained from the objectives of the study. The study was anchored by resource-based theory, Economic Order Quantity theory, agency theory. Cross sectional descriptive research designs were utilized. Simple and multiple regression model was utilized. The significance of each individual predictor variable on procurement performance was tested using t-statistic and the overall significance of the models was tested using f-statistic. Data was presented in tables and figures. The research findings are beneficial to the Kenya Medical Supplies Authority, national government and county government for decision making. The study concludes that procurement performance in level 6 hospitals in Kenya is significantly influenced by various inventory management factors, as evidenced by both correlation and regression results. Supplier relationship management showed a positive correlation (r=0.481) and a significant regression coefficient (β=0.387), indicating that strong supplier collaboration directly improves efficiency and procurement outcomes. Reorder strategy also revealed a positive correlation (r=0.523) and a significant regression coefficient (β=0.294), confirming that structured reorder policies reduce stock-outs and enhance operational continuity. Compliance and audit readiness recorded a positive correlation (r=0.461) with a significant regression coefficient (β=0.315), underscoring its role in strengthening accountability and optimizing resource use. Safety stock, while positively correlated (r=0.377), yielded an insignificant regression coefficient (β=0.109), suggesting that reliance on buffer stock does not substantially enhance procurement performance. Finally, management literacy level, as a moderating factor, revealed a positive correlation (r=0.498) and a significant interaction regression coefficient (β=0.276), showing that managerial knowledge enhances the impact of inventory management controls on procurement efficiency. The findings highlight the critical role of robust stock controls, adherence to compliance frameworks, and effective supplier engagement in enhancing procurement performance. Based on these results, hospitals should prioritize strengthening safety stock systems, regularly review reorder strategies, maintain strong compliance mechanisms, and invest in supplier relationship management. Additionally, management literacy programs should be targeted towards improving stock management decisions, as this area demonstrated the most substantial benefit from higher managerial competence.

MACROECONOMIC FACTORS VOLATILITY, BANK SIZE AND FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE OF TIER III BANKS IN KENYA

2025-11-01T00:00:00Z

MACROECONOMIC FACTORS VOLATILITY, BANK SIZE AND FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE OF TIER III BANKS IN KENYA MUTUGI, MARTHA N The unstable state of the global and regional macroeconomic conditions such as frequent financial shocks and unstable growth cycles and variable rates of GDP, interest rate, exchange rate and inflation rate, which disproportionately impacted the smaller banking institutions drove the study. Although the world has shown that the small banks are more vulnerable during the volatile times, the situation in the region and in Kenya in general shows that Tier III banks are the most vulnerable as they have smaller capital buffer, limited market coverage, and rely on unstable policy environments. This study discussed the impact of the volatility of macroeconomic factors on the financial performance of Tier III banks in Kenya during the years 2004 to 2024 and bank size was also added as the moderating variable. It was anchored by the Keynesian Economic Theory, Risk–Return Trade-off Theory, Intermediation Theory of Banking, and the Resource-Based View (RBV) Theory. The research design applied was a correlation, based on secondary data of the 22 tier II banks in Kenya. The analysis of data was performed through the multiple and moderated regression models on SPSS. The regression findings indicated that GDP volatility had a negative albeit insignificant effect on financial performance (β = -0.00122, t = -0.881, p = 0.394), whereas the interest rate volatility also had a negative but insignificant effect (-0.00311, t = -2.101, p = 0.056). Financial performance was positively and statistically significantly related to exchange rate volatility (0.00109, t = 2.414, p = 0.031) and inflation volatility (0.00513, t = 4.926, p = 0.0003). The moderation model showed that the size of banks did not have a significant effect on these relations, so the asset base is not a sufficient buffer against macroeconomic volatility in smaller banks. The research faced theoretical limitations in the methods of incorporating macroeconomic volatility into the firm level banking theories; methodological limitations because of the correlational design and use of secondary data; contextual limitations because the study focused only on Tier III banks; and empirical limitations by the fact that the study did not find long period comparative studies in other similar developing economies. The research has added value to the discourse at the global, regional and local levels by providing an empirical understanding through 21 years on the effect that macroeconomic volatility has on the performance of small banks in emerging markets. It urges Tier III banks to embrace proactive risk management, diversify their sources of income and develop resilience by progressively increasing their capital base and policy makers to maintain steadiness in macroeconomic stability to protect the stability and competitiveness of the lower tier banks within the financial sector in Kenya.