Full Range Leadership Styles on Organizational Performance of Private Universities in Kenya

Abstract

Private universities are going through tough times due to the reduced number of students, financial crisis, poor academic programs and general management crisis. This has raised a critical question on the leadership style of the vice chancellors and other senior management team in these universities. The manner in which the vice chancellors dispense their authority has to a great extent affected the performance of lecturers which in turn has had effect on the performance of these universities. Therefore, this study sought to find out the effect of full-range leadership model on the performance of private universities in Kenya. The specific objectives were: to evaluate the relationship between transformational leadership and organizational performance; to examine the influence of transactional leadership on organizational performance; to establish the relationship between participative leadership and organizational performance; to analyse the influence of situational leadership on the organizational performance and lastly to determine the moderating effect of perceived supervision support on the relationship between full range leadership and organizational performance. The study primarily focused on the chartered private universities in Kenya. The target population comprised of the 17 chartered private universities in Kenya with the specific focus on Vice-Chancellors, Deputy Vice-Chancellors, Registrars, Deans and Head of Departments as the units of observation. The study employed purposive sampling where the Vice-Chancellors, Deputy Vice-Chancellors, Registrars, Deans and Head of Departments were surveyed. These totalled to 332 respondents. The study used primary data collected by use of structured questionnaires. Data obtained was cleaned, coded and entries made into Statistical package for social sciences (SPSS version 27). Testing for compliance with statistical assumptions of multivariate analysis provided a pillar for making statistical inferences. Qualitative data was analysed using content analysis. Descriptive and inferential analysis was conducted for quantitative data. Mean and standard deviations were used as measures of central tendencies and dispersion respectively. Results were presented in form of tables and charts. The study found that transformational leadership, transactional leadership, participative leadership and situational leadership had a significant and positive influence on performance of private universities in Kenya. The study further established that the perceived supervision support had insignificant moderating effect on the relationship between full-range leadership and performance of private universities in Kenya. The study concluded that as a result of transformational leadership, transactional leadership, participative leadership and situational leadership, performance of private universities in Kenya was enhanced. The study recommended that the private universities which face performance challenges should uphold full-range leadership to stir their performance.