Influence of Social Skills on Organisational Performance in Public Universities in Kenya’s Western Region: The Moderating Role of Organisational Justice

This research aimed to assess the impact of social skills on organisational performance and to identify the moderating effect of organisational justice on the relationship between leadership emotional intelligence and organisational performance in public universities western region, Kenya. The research philosophy used was positivism, and a descriptive explanatory research methodology. The target population included 1,282 academic professionals employed at four public institutions in the Western region, Kenya. The stratified and basic random sampling techniques were used. The sample size for the investigation was calculated by Slovin's method. Primary data was collected using questionnaires and an interview schedule. Descriptive statistics and inferential statistics were utilised. Social skills significantly influence organisational performance, explaining 33.6% of the variance. Adding organisational justice increases explanatory power to 68.9%, while its moderating effect raises it to 70.6%. The interaction term (Moderated Social skills) positively affects performance (B = 0.231, p < .05), suggesting that when social skills are effectively moderated by organisational justice, it enhances organisational performance. Organisational justice enhances the impact of interpersonal competencies, leading to improved collaboration, motivation, and performance in higher education institutions.