ABSTRACT.

Turnover in public universities in Kenya has become a high profile issue due to the changes and challenges that face the entire education system. Despite the economic contribution of 6.7% Gross Domestic Product by public universities in Kenya, the 2013 Public Universities Inspection Committee of Kenya reported that these institutions were experiencing high turnover rates of 33% compared to other sectors in the economy resulting to poor employee engagement. Moreover, the 2013 World Economic Forum reported that globally, the economy was experiencing talent scarcity hindering economic growth and development. With regard to this, studies have been conducted around the concept of human capital management practices though majority of them attempted to link human capital management practices to performance. Moreover, most of them were conducted in foreign countries hence their results could not be generalized to Kenyan context. The few done in Kenya focused on other sectors and not public universities. Further they did not address career growth and development, internal communication, performance appraisal and recognition; and employee health and safety practices. The purpose of this study was to determine the influence of human capital management practices on employee engagement in public universities in western Kenya; a region with relatively many newly created public universities. Specific objectives were to determine the influence of career growth and development, internal communication, performance appraisal and recognition; and employee health and safety practices on employee engagement. The study anchored on human capital theory and expectancy theory. Correlational design was used targeting 5,747 permanent employees. Cluster, proportionate and simple random sampling were used to pick 373 respondents out of which 290 (77.7%) responded. Primary data was collected using self-administered structured questionnaires while secondary data was collected by reviewing human resource audit reports and performance contract reports. 37 respondents (10% of the sample) were involved in the pilot test and the results showed Cronbach’s Alpha coefficient between 0.708 and 0.859. Validity was ensured through expert review. Descriptive statistics represented extent of the practices while regression analysis evaluated potential relationships and the findings were presented in tables. The findings revealed 17.8% variation in employee engagement in public universities in western Kenya was accounted for by the combined influence of human capital management practices (R2 = 0.718, p=0.000). Further, it was revealed that the four practices of human capital management under study had a positive influence on employee engagement in public universities in western Kenya. (Career growth and development β=0.161, p=.000; Internal communication, β=0.339, p=.00; Performance appraisal and recognition β=0.219, p=.001; and employee health and safety β=0.209, p=.000. The study concluded that there could be other factors contributing to engagement of employees in public universities in western Kenya other than the ones investigated hence need for further study to establish such factors. The results could be of use to policy makers in public universities and other sectors of the economy besides providing new knowledge on the influence of human capital management practices on employee engagement in public universities in western Kenya.