Organizational Culture, Human Capital, Organizational Control and Performance of Kisii and Kakamega County Governments in Kenya
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Date
2025-12-16
Authors
Onduso Salome Bosibori
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Publisher
PAC University
Abstract
Kenya’s devolved system of governance implementation is in its third cycle since its inauguration in 2010. However, ineffectiveness and inefficiency in management and accountability continue to plague the performance of most county governments as evidenced in audit reports by the Office of Auditor General and the Ethics and AntiCorruption Commission, among other watchdogs. Despite government policies put in place to streamline operations of the county governments, their performance has been critiqued far and wide. Although this has been a subject of inquiry from leadership scholars and practitioners, the place of leadership in creating organizational controls and practical organizational ideals to achieve anticipated goals in county governments remains a grey area, which necessitated an empirical study. The aim of the study was to examine the effect of organizational culture, human capital and organizational control on the performance of Kisii and Kakamega Counties in Kenya. The specific objectives of the study were to: determine the effect of organizational culture on county performance, assess the effect of human capital on county performance, examine the effect of organizational control on county government performance, and determine moderating influence of government policies on the relationship between organizational culture, human capital and organizational control and performance of Kisii and Kakamega county governments in Kenya. The study was anchored on
Institutional Theory, Trait Leadership Theory, Human Capital Theory, and Resourcebased view theory. The study adopted a positivism research philosophy and a cross
sectional survey research design. The target population comprised of Chief officers, Directors and Assistant Director at various ministries, Sub- County administrators and
Members of County Assembly (N=325). To arrive at a statistically sound sample size, the study adopted the Yamane (1967) formula for sample size determination, which
gave a sample size of 136 for Kakamega County and 92 for Kisii County, totalling to 228 respondents. Proportionate stratified random sampling was used to ensure representativeness of the sample population. Given that the study was quantitative in nature, it adopted structured questionnaires in data collection, which were distributed using an online platform (Google Forms). In data analysis, Stata version 15 was used to compute descriptive and inferential statistics. Data were presented in prose form and visualized using tables and figures. Findings from the test of hypothesis using simple linear regression indicated that organizational culture had a statistically significant influence on the performance of Kisii and Kakamega County Governments (p<.05).
Human capital also had a statistically significant effect on performance (p<.05), while organizational control showed a statistically significant association with the performance of the county governments (p<.05). Additionally, government policies had a statistically significant moderating effect on the relationship between organizational culture, human capital, organizational control, and the performance of Kisii and Kakamega County Governments (p<.05). It is recommended that the county governments of Kisii and Kakamega enhance their organizational culture by promoting innovation, build inclusivity, and minimize political interference. Equally, county government should improve human capital by implementing performance contracting, eliminating political patronage, and investing in innovation and infrastructure. Additionally, county governments should develop well-documented standard operating procedures, ensure regular employee training, and embrace public participation to align policies with citizens’ needs.