Preventive Maintenance and Employee Job Performance in Five Star-Rated Hotels in Nairobi City County, Kenya

Abstract

Preventive maintenance is an essential management practice in the hospitality industry due to its role in enhancing equipment reliability, operational continuity, and service quality. However, its direct influence on employee job performance remains underexplored, particularly within Kenya's five-star hotel sector. This study examined the effect of preventive maintenance on employee job performance in five-star rated hotels in Nairobi City County, Kenya. The study was anchored on the Model of Work-Role Performance and Maintenance Management Theory. Guided by the pragmatic research paradigm, the study adopted a mixed-methods approach using a concurrent convergent research design. The target population comprised 3,127 employees and nine maintenance managers drawn from the nine five-star rated hotels in Nairobi City County. A sample of 355 employees was selected through stratified and simple random sampling, while all nine maintenance managers were purposively selected for interviews. Data were collected using a structured five-point Likert-scale questionnaire adapted from previous studies and semi-structured interview schedules. The research instruments demonstrated acceptable internal consistency, with Cronbach's alpha coefficients of 0.829 for preventive maintenance and 0.762 for employee job performance. Quantitative data were analysed using descriptive statistics, Pearson's correlation, and simple linear regression, while qualitative data were analysed using thematic content analysis. Regression assumptions were tested prior to analysis, confirming independence of errors (Durbin-Watson = 1.530) and the absence of multicollinearity. The findings indicated that preventive maintenance practices were consistently implemented across the participating hotels, with mean scores ranging from 4.05 to 4.62, while employee job performance recorded high mean scores ranging from 3.73 to 4.47. Correlation analysis revealed a positive and statistically significant relationship between preventive maintenance and employee job performance (r = 0.393, p = .001). Regression analysis further established that preventive maintenance significantly predicted employee job performance (B = 0.231, β = 0.230, t = 4.939, p = .001). Qualitative findings converged with the quantitative results, revealing that routine inspections, scheduled servicing, maintenance documentation, and technology-supported maintenance systems enhanced operational stability, reduced equipment failures, improved workplace safety, and enabled employees to perform their duties more efficiently. The study concludes that preventive maintenance significantly enhances employee job performance in five-star rated hotels by improving operational reliability and creating conducive working conditions that support service excellence. The study recommends that hotel managers institutionalise structured preventive maintenance programmes supported by adequate financial resources, digital maintenance management systems, and continuous technical training. It further recommends that the Tourism Regulatory Authority strengthen hotel quality assurance by incorporating preventive maintenance standards into hotel classification and compliance assessments, while the Kenya Bureau of Standards develops sector-specific preventive maintenance guidelines for the hospitality industry.