Influence of Strategic Leadership Practices on the Performance of Non-Governmental Organizations Listed in the Environmental Campaign by United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) in Kenya

Abstract

Identifying strategic leadership practices that drive organizational sustainability and create sustainable enterprises has become an important quest for both practitioners and academics. To shape and maintain effective governance, numerous scholars around the world have called for a new genre of leadership that embraces strategic leadership practices. These writers urge leaders to look beyond the traditional practices of simply embracing green strategies on cooperate social responsibility practices. The advice is to re-examine the entire set of organizational systems and processes. Over the last decade, diverse performance concepts at the strategic macro level of leadership such, performance contracting stakeholder-based leadership, ethical leadership, sufficiency economy philosophy business practices and sustainable leadership approach have been proposed. These approaches share similar characteristics, to different degrees, in advocating for effective governance. There is a dearth of research on how these concepts translate for the organizations in non-profit sector given that the motivation in setting up non-profit is different. This research will delve into this aspect with a specific emphasis on the practices of setting clear a strategic direction, exercising accountability to shareholders, delegation and effective board oversight, and their impact on effective management of Non-governmental organizations in Kenya. A cross sectional survey design was used in this study. The study target population was 26 non-governmental organizations listed in environment campaign by the United Nations in Kenya. The questionnaires were administered to the targeted respondents through drop and pick method. There after the researcher conducted a pilot study of 12 respondents. The pilot study sufficiently addressed the reliability and validity of the study tools. The researcher embarked on a full study by use of purposeful sampling of the target population. The study used questionnaires to collect data. The study used statistical package for social sciences (SPSS) for data analysis. The results were presented using tables, charts and graphs. The study concluded that shareholder’ accountability, strategic direction, and delegation influence the performance of NGOs. The study recommends that shareholders accountability should be encouraged and maintained since it influences organizational performance. The study also recommends that strategic leadership practices influences the performance of non-governmental organizations listed in the environmental campaign by the United Nations Environmental programme (UNEP) in Kenya. The study established that board governance, shareholders, accountability, strategic direction, and delegation influence NGOs’ performance at a combined effect of 60.8%, an indication that 39.2% is due to other factors. The study recommends that further research be conducted to establish these other factors that influence NGOs’ performance in Kenya. It further recommends a similar study but with a wider population in order to generalize the findings more broadly