Financial Risk and Adoption of Public-Private Partnerships in Kenyan Public Universities

Employment of public-private partnerships as a way of delivery of public utilities has been on the rise in the recent past. This has been driven by a number of factors, key among them being the ability of the public entity to transfer financial risk to private sector players who are better placed to mitigate such risks. The study purposed to assess the effect of financial risk on adoption of public-private partnerships in Kenyan public universities. The specific study objectives were to evaluate the influence of interest rate variability, revenue streams variability and exchange rate variability on adoption of public-private partnerships. The study employed a descriptive research design while targeting a population of 223 comprising of purposively selected employees from nine public universities. A sample size of 143 was used from whom data was collected using structured questionnaire. Data analysis employed use of both descriptive and inferential statistics. The results obtained show that interest rate variability, revenue stream variability and exchange rate variability have a statistically significant influence on adoption of public-private partnerships. On the basis of the study findings it was concluded that financial risk transfer had a significant positive influence on adoption of public-private partnerships in Kenyan public universities. It is therefore recommended that Kenyan public universities should thoroughly evaluate financial risk involved in any project before entering into public-private partnership arrangement in order to enhance value for money.