Influence of ISO 9001:2008 quality management system on the tangibility of services offered in public universities in Kenya

Abstract

Universities in Kenya sought ISO 9001: 2008 Quality Management Systems to guarantee adherence to the University’s processes and procedures, to ensure excellence in the pursuit of their objectives and to meet customer’s requirements on quality service delivery. The purpose of this study was to determine the influence of ISO 9001:2008 Quality management systems on the tangibility of services offered in Kenyan Universities. The study adopted a descriptive research design. The study population comprised of 305, 214 members of academic staff, administrative staff and students from 30 public universities in Kenya chartered by 2016. Simple random sampling was used to select 9 public universities from 30 public universities. From the selected 9 public universities, proportionate sampling was used to select 72 members of academic staff, 90 members of administrative staff and 222 students. The study established that tangibility of service is to a great extent influenced by adoption of ISO 9001:2008 QMS in public universities. The study recommends that public universities should investigate the possibility of a gap between service quality requirements in standard operating procedures of ISO 9001:2008 QMS on tangibles of work to minimize role uncertainty which requires that the correct facilities be provided to all staff enabling them to offer quality service.