Leadership Process, Followership, Organizational Context and Effectiveness in Freight Forwarding Firms in Nairobi City County, Kenya
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Date
2024-08-14
Authors
Ndonye Davies Mutuku
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Publisher
PAC University
Abstract
High uncertainties in the 21st century globalised business environment are forcing many organizations to consider every possible way to increase effectiveness. Previous studies have identified challenges facing freight forwarding firms in Kenya, which include high operational costs, poor co-ordination, and rapid developments and insecurity in information technology. Literature on organizational leadership has neither addressed the dimensions of effectiveness of freight forwarding firms nor empirically tested the dimensions used by the practicing firms. Previous research has also concentrated on organizational performance as the dependent variable. There is lack of empirical investigation linking leadership process with effectiveness among freight forwarding firms. This study sought to investigate the effect of leadership process on the effectiveness of freight forwarding firms in Nairobi City County, Kenya. Specifically, it assessed the effect of leadership process elements, namely tactical, strategic, and situational influence on the effectiveness of the freight forwarding firms. It also sought to establish the mediating and moderating effect of followership and organizational context respectively on the relationship between leadership process and organizational effectiveness. Theoretical pillars of Leader-Member Exchange Theory, Situational Leadership Theory, Institutional Theory, Balanced Scorecard Model, and Structuralism Theory anchored the study. From a pragmatic philosophical view, the study adopted explanatory sequential design. The target population was 400 freight forwarding firms practicing in Nairobi City County, out of which 92 were selected using simple random sampling technique. The response rate was 84.06% for quantitative data with 232 questionnaires returned. Ten key informants from 10 selected freight forwarding firms took part in in-depth interviews. Descriptive statistics used were the means and standard deviation, while regression analysis was used to test hypotheses. In extracting factors for the study variables, factor analysis was used. Qualitative data was analysed thematically. Results indicated that organizational effectiveness correlated with tactical influence, strategic influence and situational influence at (r=0.295, p<.001), (r=0.275, p<.001), and (r=0.364, p<.001) respectively. Its correlation with followership and external organizational context was (r=0.341, p<.001) and (r=0.313, p<.001) respectively. Regression results established that tactical influence, strategic influence and situational influence have a significant positive effect on the effectiveness of the freight forwarding firms. Followership was found to have a significant partial mediating effect, while external organizational context had a significant moderating effect on the relationship between leadership process and firm effectiveness. The study findings extend previous research by integrating the set of attributes of leadership process applicable to the freight forwarding sector. It recommends that management should entrench effective leadership process in their firms through active deployment of tactical, strategic and situational influence strategies and practices to generate the right followership capabilities and organizational contexts for effectiveness. Government policies should aim at promoting collaborative approaches with partners in the supply chain network for general effectiveness. The study calls on future research to expand the methodological and contextual scope. The effect of other forms of influence strategies such as motivation and idealized influence on organizational effectiveness can also be investigated.