Collaborative Leadership, Environmental Dynamism, And Performance of Insurance Companies in Kenya
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Date
2024-08-14
Authors
Gilbert Atuto Ang’ana
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Publisher
PAC University
Abstract
Contemporary organizations face complex challenges in various aspects of performance, including service quality, environmental and social governance, internal operations, innovation optimization, and financial efficiency. The scholarly inquiry into how leadership impacts organization performance has gained considerable attention but performance concerns are still persistent. This study aimed to investigate the effects of collaborative leadership and environmental dynamism on the performance of insurance companies in Kenya. To achieve this, five specific objectives were outlined: to explore the influence of collaborative leadership on performance, to establish the effect of authentic relationships on performance, to investigate the effect of leaders' behaviour on performance, to assess the effect of top echelons support on performance, and to determine the moderating effect of environmental dynamism on the relationship between collaborative leadership and performance of insurance companies in Kenya. The objectives had corresponding hypotheses, which were stated and tested. The theoretical framework was primarily drawn from Distributed Leadership, Social Constructivism, and Leader-Member Exchange theories. A pragmatic research paradigm and convergent mixed-methods design were used to engage 642 managers within the insurance companies in Kenya. In Quantitative design, a stratified proportionate random sampling technique was applied, resulting in 240 participants. Of these, 217 completed a structured questionnaire, achieving a response rate of 90.4%. Quantitative analysis involved descriptive statistics, correlation analysis, and regression models. In qualitative design, purposive sampling of 12 CEOs from 42 insurance companies was applied, with 11 CEOs consenting to semi structured interviews (a 91.6% response rate). Thematic analysis was used to analyse the qualitative data. Quantitative findings revealed a moderate effect of collaborative leadership on performance (R=0.457), explaining 20.9% (R2=0.209) of performance variation in insurance companies. The components of collaborative leadership—authentic relationships (B=-0.385; p=0.011), leaders' behaviour (B=0.167; p=0.143), and top echelons support (B=0.634; p=0.001)—each had varying effects on performance. Furthermore, although environmental dynamism enhanced the explanatory power of the relationship between collaborative leadership and performance (R2=0.263), the interaction variable showed no significant moderating effect (B=-0.139; p=0.65). The integrated findings converged on the effects of collaborative leadership and environmental dynamism on the performance of insurance companies in Kenya. This study contributes to the scholarly knowledge on collaborative leadership by presenting a collaborative leadership framework that integrates environmental dynamism, collaborative leadership actors and attributes and aligns with essential organization outcomes that drive the optimal performance of insurance companies. Its implications extend to policy-making, providing guidance for fostering collaborative leadership in insurance companies and adapting to evolving environmental dynamism for enhanced performance. In conclusion, the performance of insurance companies in Kenya can be explained by collaborative leadership and environmental dynamism. This study serves as a valuable resource for academia and industry stakeholders, paving the way for future research on collaborative leadership in various organizational contexts, particularly utilizing approaches like the convergent mixed-method design employed in this study.