STRATEGIC LEADERSHIP PRACTICES AND ORGANIZATIONAL PERFORMANCE: A CASE OF HEALTH FACILITY-BASED YOUTH CENTRES IN THE CITY COUNTIES OF KENYA

Abstract

This study sought to determine the effect of strategic leadership practices on performance of health facility-based youth centres (HFYCs) in the Kenyan city counties of Nairobi, Mombasa and Kisumu. The study was postulated on a combination of general systems and upper echelon’s theories and grounded on a paradigm of both positivism and phenomenology philosophies. The study adopted cross-sectional study design using mixed methods where the results were subsequently triangulated. All the 37 accessible HFYCs in the three counties were selected and responses received from the 29 HFYCs. The respondents were 29 health facility in-charges and 26 in-charges of HFYCs who responded to online questionnaires while 16 leaders of youth peers were interviewed using question guides through zoom platform. The questionnaires were piloted to determine their reliability and validity before actual data collection. The quantitative data was analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics, while qualitative data was thematically analyzed and reported in verbatim form. The findings showed that there was a positive and significant relationship between strategic leadership practices and performance of HFYCs in Kenya (r=0.701, p<0.05) and the relationship was moderate. Hence it was concluded that there is a direct proportional effect of strategic leadership practices (strategic direction, ethical practices, core competences, human capital, corporate culture and strategic control) on the performance of HFYCs. The study recommended that the in-charges of health facility-based youth centres should reward good performance of employees from time to time as well as reviewing the impact of the rewards on performance of the employees.