Effect of Governance Decentralization on Service Delivery in County Governments in Kenya

Abstract

Decentralization brings decision making closer to people to improve governance and service delivery. The general objective of the study was to establish the effect of governance decentralization on service delivery in county governments in Kenya. This study tested the null hypotheses that financial decentralization, political decentralization, administrative decentralization, citizen participation and social accountability practices had no relationship with service delivery in county governments in Kenya. The study also tested the null hypothesis that there is no moderating effect of e-government on the relationship between financial decentralization, political decentralization, administrative decentralization, citizen participation and social accountability practices, governance decentralization and service delivery in county governments in Kenya. The study adopted both descriptive survey research design and explanatory research design to identify, analyze, and describe the relationship between governance decentralization and service delivery. The study population was 2,794 county government officials from all the 47 counties in Kenya. This study used multiphase sampling technique to select the subjects of study. Both stratified random sampling technique and simple random sampling techniques were adopted to get the sample of counties and county government officials to be included in the study. A pilot test was conducted to detect weaknesses in design and instrumentation. A sample of 338 respondents was used. Of the 338 respondents, 275 completed the questionnaires giving a response rate of 81.36%. Cronbach’s alpha was used to test for internal reliability of each variable used in the study. Data analysis was done using descriptive statistics, correlation and regression analysis. The study used bivariate regression analysis and moderated multiple regressions to analyze the association between governance decentralization dimensions, e-government, and service delivery variables. The findings revealed that governance decentralization had a significant effect on service delivery in county governments in Kenya. Specifically, the study found that financial decentralization, political decentralization, administrative decentralization, citizen participation and social accountability practices all had positive and significant effect on service delivery. However, social accountability had a significant effect on service delivery independently but not jointly. E-government had no moderating effect on the relationship between governance decentralization and service delivery in county governments in Kenya. Moreover, E-government was also found to have no moderating effect on the relationship between financial decentralization, political decentralization, administrative decentralization, citizen participation, social accountability practices and service delivery. The study concluded that governance decentralization had a significant effect on service delivery. However, it was also concluded that e-government had no significant moderating effect on the relationship between governance decentralization and service delivery. The study recommends that financial decentralization, political decentralization, administrative decentralization, citizen participation, social accountability practices need to be facilitated to improve service delivery in county governments in Kenya.