Security officers are part of the non-teaching staff in schools and school managers expect them to be productive, dedicated, disciplined and committed to their work. Studies carried out in other countries have revealed that human resource management practices have profound effects on the job satisfaction of security personnel. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to examine the effect of human resource management practices on the job satisfaction of security personnel in public secondary schools in Baringo County, Kenya. This paper presents and discusses the research findings on the effect of recruitment and selection practices on job satisfaction of security personnel in public secondary schools in Baringo County. It targeted 508 security personnel and 169 principals in public secondary schools in Baringo County. Slovin’s formula was used to get the sample of 224 security personnel. Random sampling technique was used to select 10% of the school principals to participate in the study. A questionnaire and an interview guide were used to collect data. These research tools were validated and then tested for reliability. Cronbach Alpha was used to test reliability. The reliability of the instrument was 0.788, which was above the 0.70 threshold of acceptable reliability. Qualitative data was analysed thematically based on the objectives. Quantitative data was collected and analysed by use of both descriptive (means, percentages as well as frequencies) and inferential statistics. The inferential statistics comprised Pearson product moment correlation and multiple linear regression. The results from the research revealed that recruitment and selection practices (β2=0.322, p<0.05) had significant effect on security personnel’s job satisfaction. Therefore, recruitment and selection practices were found to be major predictors of job satisfaction. The researcher concluded that the Recruitment and selection practices were significant determinants of security personnel’s job satisfaction. It is therefore recommended that school Boards of Management should clarify the requisite skills and qualification for security personnel. They should advertise vacancies for security jobs and avoid recruiting personnel only from the school neighbourhood. They should ensure they select the right candidates for the right job.
Keywords: Baringo County, Effect, Job Satisfaction, Kenya, Public Secondary Schools, Recruitment, security personnel, selection practices
